Yugi's just Saiyan
by Lyrium eidolon
Summary: AU: Yugi has many things he would like to know. Why does he have a tail, and why did his mother leave him? Not even his childhood friend Gohan can answer these, but can they find the answers together?
1. Prologue: Escape from Frieza

**Author's Note:** I have wondered what things would be like if Yugi Moto was actually a Saiyan or had some Saiyan genes in him.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yugioh or Dragonball Z. They are owned by Kazuki Takahashi and Akira Troiyama respectively. This is just a fan-based piece of fiction

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><p><span>Prologue: Escape from Frieza<span>

Deep in a distant part of space a long time ago, there was a huge explosion. One strange ball-shaped spaceship was flying away from that explosion containing a severely injured woman, probably very close to knocking on death's door. Soon, two other ships were seen following the first and the woman inside heard a voice, an all too familiar voice, coming from the device she wore on her left ear. "Get back here!" it shouted. "I admit you at least have a few brains trying to run, but this is pointless! We'll catch up to you sooner or later, and then you're dead just like the rest of them Saiyans!"

The woman just responded with "Shut up, Dodoria!" and increased the speed of her ship. Doing so was quite risky, but she was willing to take the risk. Anything to get away from this Dodoria and the certainty of death, but her actions were beginning to take their toll on her ship, as electronic systems were overloading, and there were small explosions inside, but at least she was escaping.

A second voice then spoke. "Dodoria, Zarbon, why are you letting the Saiyan get away?" it shouted, whereupon a third voice, probably Zarbon, told it "Lord Frieza, she is placing enormous strain on her pod's systems, so at this rate, she'll do the job without us needing to lift a finger." For a while, there was no response, but then: "Alright then, come to think of it, one beaten Saiyan female is hardly a threat to us so we shouldn't really even bother. Dodoria, Zarbon, return to the ship," Frieza instructed, "…and sever the connection with her Scouter already for god's sake you idiots!"

After that, all three of the voices stopped talking. At least the woman's gamble was paying off. She still kept her spaceship's speed high in case they were actually pursuing her, and she set it to go to somewhere out of the way, where Frieza's men wouldn't come looking. The planet Earth came into view, and soon, she entered its upper atmosphere. However, the strain on her ship while increasing her speed to escape had destroyed its shields and it started burning up in the atmosphere as a result. Soon, it collided with the ground, disintegrating upon impact, the woman barely surviving as she crawled out from the wreckage. The last thing she remembered was a few people coming towards her, after which she saw no more… for the time being.


	2. Chapter 1: Memories of Yugi

**Author's note:** I hope you have enjoyed this so far. This chapter name was inspired by the name of the Dragonball Z episode "Memories of Gohan". Please read and review.

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><p><span>Chapter 1<span>: Memories of Yugi

About twenty years had passed since the crash.

Now 14 year old Yugi Muto was left wondering why fate had dealt him such a bad hand (which was ironic due to the fact that he played the famous Duel Monsters card game). Not only was he frequently bullied because of his small size and vulnerability, but there was one thing wrong with him. For some reason, Yugi had sported a brownish monkey-like tail. He had it since birth, and was always wondering, if he was human like his grandfather said, why everyone else didn't have a strange tail protruding from their lower back. Every so often, the school bullies would also discover Yugi's tail (which he had hidden right underneath his belt) and pull or squeeze it. To him, this was akin to severe torture. Yugi also had no idea who his mother was because, he was told, she had to leave when he was still very young, and his father was also gone. Then there was the fact that was almost completely alone, except for his grandfather and one child by the name of Gohan who also featured the strange monkey tail, but other than those people, there was nobody to help him in life. Oh well, there wasn't much he could do about it now, he thought, as he tried to reassemble one artifact that was in his grandfather's possession: the Millenium Puzzle.

As far as he could remember, the only friends Yugi really had were Gohan, his father Goku and the friends _they_ had. Yugi, however, didn't get to spend much time with them, as something always got in the way, and even if he was lucky, he'd only be able to spend time with Gohan. The earliest he could remember of something getting in the way of spending quality time together was when he was much younger, maybe 8 years old, and at the time everyone had been called away to deal with strange visitors to Earth, apparently called "Saiyans", then they were called away to go off into space. Oh, how Yugi envied them at the time: going into space was probably one of the greatest accomplishments of the human race, but the stories he was told by Gohan weren't the prettiest: they involved a list of ruthless killers, including characters named Dodoria, Zarbon, the Ginyu Force and, worst of all, Frieza, who, Yugi was told, destroyed an entire planet. Then, a couple years later, there was one incident where Yugi breathed in strange gas that caused him, his grandfather and just about everyone else to somehow act in a menacingly evil manner until another gas stopped the first one from having more of an effect.

To date, the most time Yugi had spent with Gohan was after the debacle with the strange gas, which the latter identified upon request during their first meeting as "Black Water Mist", basically a method of mind control used by one Garlic Junior, who had since been banished. Yugi only got to be with Gohan for a short while after his mother, after looking at the former's background, decided he would be a much better influence on her son than all the rest of those fighters that hung around Goku. Yugi's only price for company was that Gohan train him as he wanted to try and stop continuously being bullied. That, and the fact that, somehow, he had a bit of a strange knack for fighting.

They had quite a good arrangement going until one day when Gohan and his friends sensed an evil force approaching the planet. Yugi accompanied them, yet he hid, knowing all too well that he was currently no match for anybody, and later that day he saw what he would eventually come to know as Frieza for the first time. Thankfully, Yugi was able to stay safely hidden, and the tyrant was quickly brought to his knees along with everyone else that accompanied him by a mysterious sword-wielding boy who could strangely turn his hair blonde at will. He, according to Yugi, looked like he'd fit best in a Duel Monsters card as maybe a strong monster called the Gold Swordsman or something similar, and after that, it was back home to his game shop.

Not only back home, but also back to school, back to being picked on, back to being victimized and back to bad days. This day was no different, even with one piece of the Puzzle being stolen, although he was having a slight bit of luck: he was making excellent progress with assembling the Millenium Puzzle. There was only now one piece left, and, strangely, it was given to him by his grandfather later that evening. In went the piece…

… and then his life was changed forever.


	3. Chapter 2: Gohan in Duelist Kingdom

**Author's note: **I hope you are enjoying this so far. I thought I had better share something with you now: Since I started this project, I was thinking of maybe making Gohan a Duelist later on in the story. Any feedback on whether I should or shouldn't would be greatly appreciated, and also if I should, what cards do you think I should include? Anyway, on with the story. Please read and review.

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><p><span>Chapter 2:<span> Gohan in Duelist Kingdom

Since the day Yugi finished assembling his Millenium Puzzle, Gohan seemed to notice that things were taking a strange turn. The events Yugi was telling Gohan about indicated to him that the former had actually been making friends with some of his former tormentors, while others were succumbing to some form of punishment. However, what intrigued Gohan most of all was that; somehow, he could sense something or someone else inside the Puzzle. It was something dark, powerful and yet, somehow, he could also sense a great deal of confusion.

The first Gohan got to see of this new presence was during one incident where Yugi's grandfather was abducted. At the time he was just flying to Yugi's game shop to visit him, but when he landed, someone phoned and then he, Yugi and his three friends Joey, Tea and Tristan were off to another location. Once there, Gohan saw something that must have been truly agonizing to Yugi: Solomon Muto was badly injured. Another man, Seto Kaiba, claimed that this was during a Duel with him, but Gohan couldn't see how playing a card game could so badly injure Mr Muto. However, as Kaiba proceeded to deepen the wound by tearing up a treasured card, then Gohan saw, for the first time, the presence inside the Millenium Puzzle take form. At first he was surprised at the effects of this presence taking hold of Yugi: for one he was taller, he was also a lot more confident than Gohan had ever seen him and his hair had undergone a slight change.

The most intriguing part for Gohan was what happened after Yugi, with this new presence having taken over his body, and Kaiba faced off in a Duel Monsters game with the former winning. The presence possessing Yugi unleashed some sort of destructive energy at Kaiba, yet it seemed to do little to no physical damage at all. Gohan was confused; while he had seen many types of energy attacks in his life, from Krillin's Destructo Disk, to the Ginyu Force's attacks, especially Ginyu's body change ability, to Frieza's strange grip that killed Krillin, hell, even using some energy attacks that would seem strange to ordinary people (such as his father's Kamehameha wave), this new attack was something else entirely. He couldn't quite understand why someone would use an attack that didn't cause considerable damage until he questioned Yugi about this, and heard that he crushed the _evil_ in Kaiba's heart.

From there, things got weirder. Gohan was there when a video from the Duel Monsters creator Maximillion Pegasus arrived, stole the soul of Yugi's grandfather and demanded Yugi participate in the Duelist Kingdom tournament if he wants to get Solomon back. Gohan decided that, after the cursed videotape incident, he couldn't just walk away from these strange happenings. Goku, after hearing from Gohan what happened, decided to accompany him to Duelist Kingdom with Yugi not only because these events were interesting, but also because the Androids, whom the Saiyan hybrid from the future warned them about a few years ago, were going to attack soon and they needed to train, but at the same time, they needed to look out for their friend.

They soon, however, hit a bit of a snag. They had no trouble reaching the boat taking the Duelist Kingdom participants to the tournament location, but apparently, they did not have the entry requirements: at least one star chip among other things. Yugi, who was with them when the guards made it clear that they couldn't board, was quite disappointed, but Gohan tells him they'll stay behind. However, neither he nor Goku had any intention of letting Yugi go without their support, so they waited until the ship began its voyage and then flew straight to it. However, when they got there, Gohan could see Yugi and one of his new friends, Joey Wheeler, struggling to stay afloat in the rough sea. He immediately dived in and retrieved them, taking them back aboard the ship. Yugi was quite surprised, and asked why Gohan said he and Goku were staying behind, to which the latter responded "That was just something we said to appease the guards! Did you really think we would just sit back and not help you try to save somebody you love?"

The rest of the trip was quite eventful. Gohan and Goku quite enjoyed meeting Joey, Tristan Taylor and Tea Gardner, as well as playing a sort of hide-and-seek game whenever one of Pegasus's men looked outside the ship in their general direction (they weren't really supposed to be on or near the ship). Yugi also occasionally asked Gohan if he was going to get a Duel Monsters deck, to which he would always reply "I don't think I'm really cut out for that type of thing. Maybe sometime later I might, but I don't think I'd be able to now." Yugi was quite disappointed at this, because he thought, unbeknownst to Gohan, that he would make a great player.

When Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan disembarked, they were greeted by Pegasus at the castle on the island. When Gohan and Goku touched down after them, they were greeted by bands of Pegasus's henchmen who wanted to throw them off the island for arriving illegally and not being duelists. Gohan actually found a bit of amusement in beating down everyone who tried to seize "that miniature little punk". Maybe it was his Saiyan blood; maybe it was the fact that these people continuously underestimated him; maybe it was something else but Gohan liked practicing his fighting skills on people who wanted to remove them by force. Eventually, they found Yugi's first duel just in time to see him, or rather the presence inside him, crush the regional champion and Insect card user Weevil Underwood like a bug, and from then on, Gohan cheered for Yugi in his duels in between training with Goku and brawling with another pack of Pegasus's goons too arrogant for their own good.

Things seemed to be proceeding smoothly until Yugi got to the castle and Seto Kaiba challenged him to another duel. Gohan was there when the unknown presence that seemed to have taken to taking hold of Yugi during duels decided to risk the death of Kaiba (who had positioned himself on top of one of the castle battlements) just to win the lousy card game. Gohan was shouting at Yugi to try and regain control over his body, arguing that those actions were completely unlike how he would normally respond, despite him having Saiyan blood. While Yugi did manage to regain control, Gohan could tell he was quite shaken by what he had almost done. The duel was lost, and so too was Yugi's will to duel. Gohan guessed that Yugi was probably deeply traumatized by the malevolence exhibited by whatever lived inside the Millennium Puzzle, but he knew this: Yugi was getting far too despondent. Proof of this was how he showed his tail: Gohan could see how Yugi usually hid his tail right underneath his belt due to there being a bit of a bulge around his waistline, and now it was gone, leading Gohan to believe that the tail was just hanging down in his pants as it still wasn't visible.

Yugi eventually regained his motivation due in part to one Mai Valentine, and with that, he, she, Gohan, Goku, Ryo Bakura (whom they had recently met on the island), Joey, Tea and Tristan were ready to enter the Duelist Kingdom castle and the semi finals. It went relatively smoothly until Yugi's duel with Pegasus, against whom he had to fight to release his grandfather's soul. It was later on in the duel that Gohan sensed something else quite intriguing. Significant as it was, it was not the fact that Pegasus could somehow generate some sort of malevolent energy of more or less the same sort as the spirit inside the Millennium Puzzle. No, what intrigued Gohan the most was, not long after Pegasus surrounded both him and Yugi in a sphere of this dark energy, he sensed something that hadn't happened since the battle with Frieza on Namek. The dark wall partly disappeared and revealed Yugi grunting quite a lot, calling up lots of energy, his hair rising and flashing gold, and generating a golden aura around himself. This continued for a few minutes until Yugi's blonde locks were pointing toward the sky, the spiky portion of his hair also ascending with only the 5 big spikes of it could be seen, and it remained golden for a minute longer, but then, the golden aura vanished, Yugi's hair went back to normal and the dark energy enclosed him again. Gohan immediately asked Goku if that was what he thought it was, and was surprised to find out it was true: Yugi had become a _Super Saiyan_.

Gohan and Goku joined the efforts of Tea, Tristan and Joey to try and reach Yugi, and, unbeknownst to the two of them, they actually helped blind Pegasus' Millennium Eye. After the duel ended, Yugi asked Gohan about what happened to him, to whom Goku replied: "Well kid, you have become a Super Saiyan. I am also one" and then transformed into _his_ Super Saiyan form, with similar effects happening to him.

"But Goku, how did I become like this?" Yugi replied, still confused.

"Explain what happened inside that sphere of energy, and maybe I can enlighten you."

"Well, Pegasus had taken the duel to the Shadow Realm, and my body couldn't survive it, but there was only one thing on my mind: I needed to survive and release Grandpa's soul. Then something just started burning violently inside me. I couldn't tell what it was, I thought maybe the Millennium Puzzle was helping me, but it felt like this burning sensation, this… flame, was coming from inside _me_. All I could feel while that flame was burning was determination, and lots of anger. A lot of that anger was at Pegasus for stealing Grandpa's soul."

"Well, there you have it Yugi. The power to become a Super Saiyan comes in response to a need, not a desire. You were put in a situation where you couldn't survive, but you _needed_ to survive to carry out a greater cause, and that triggered your transformation. It will still take a while to master, but you're well on your way there," Goku told him.

He and Gohan stayed with Yugi as he went searching for Pegasus, as he received the prizes from one of the assistants and as he returned to Domino city and saw his recovered grandfather. They only left for Mount Paozu to resume training after an incident where a girl named Rebecca Hawkins attacked Yugi for "stealing" a card.


	4. Chapter 3: Battle City in Saiyan eyes

**Author's note:** I know I said in my profile that I was going to give this story a break, but I realized when writing this that if I were to include what you are about to read and what I had planned for when Gohan might have to duel, the result would be one huge, illegible mess, so I decided to instead write those two occasions separately. I have sort of come to a decision regarding the question of whether or not to make Gohan a duelist, although I still haven't really decided what he will use. For now, here's Chapter 3. I hope you enjoy this, and all reviews and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, I don't have too good a grip on the personalities of Duke, Mai and Serenity, all of whom are appearing in this story, so I am issuing a possible OOC warning for each of them

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><p><span>Chapter 3:<span> Battle City through Saiyan eyes

Gohan spent the next couple of days training with Goku and Piccolo, his first Namekian teacher of the martial arts, in preparation for the Androids. One day he decided to fly by himself to Domino City to see how Yugi was holding up. While Piccolo was quite uneasy about this, Goku silenced his objections, saying that Gohan needed a break every once in a while. But before leaving, Gohan tried to get Goku to give him as much history about the Saiyans as possible, knowing that, since he achieved his Super Saiyan form, Yugi would be quite uneasy, and would want to know about them, to find out what they are. Gohan, for a brief moment, considered going to Vegeta for this information, but eventually decided against it, as there was almost no chance of him helping out the son of his rival, despite him knowing more about the Saiyans than anyone else alive. Besides, he wasn't really known for his patience and willingness to answer other people's questions.

Gohan arrived in the Domino City skies, heading first for Yugi's game shop. Upon finding out that Yugi wasn't there, he then flew back into the sky, soaring over the many buildings in the hope of finding his friend. With no luck so far, he wondered what had happened, and also how to find Yugi. Then it hit him: Goku and Piccolo taught him how to sense energy, so he just needed to calm down and concentrate. How could he have forgotten that basic skill? Gohan closed his eyes and began to mentally search for Yugi's energy. The noises of the city made it quite difficult, so much so that just when Gohan thought he'd found Yugi's power level, he'd have to repeat his efforts in trying to locate it after getting a bit closer. This happened three times, but eventually, he found him at the Domino Pier… chained to an anchor and dueling Joey?

Seto Kaiba was also there, and the minute Gohan touched down, he began questioning him. Kaiba revealed that someone was manipulating the duel: it was structured so that it would have to be completed in a certain amount of time or the participants would be dragged to the bottom of the ocean by the large anchor. The winner of the duel would be allowed to free himself from the shackles binding him to the anchor before being dragged down with the loser, and if anyone tried to interfere with the Duel, one of the men at the docks would drop a heavy crate on Tea, who was bound to a chair directly underneath, via remote control. Gohan couldn't see what the problem was: during the times when he trained Yugi, he taught him how to use ki blasts, even teaching him the Masenko. According to the former, Yugi could have just flown up to the man with the remote that would drop the crate, brought him down before he could react, taken the remote, destroyed the crate with a ki blast, destroyed the anchor and chains with another ki blast and nobody would have to die.

However, this was Yugi's fight, and woe betide Gohan if he were to butt into a fight involving someone with Saiyan genes. When he asked Yugi about the fight, it was revealed that Joey was being possessed by someone else. This presence seemed to be quite alarmed at Gohan's arrival and was also quite confused about his abilities to the point where it asked him if he had somehow used the Millennium Scale, the only Millennium Item to remain under the radar, to fly. However, it was quite clear that the person mind-controlling Joey was no fool, as the "Rare Hunter" with the remote was ordered to keep his finger on the button in case someone were to try something. As the duel continued, the stress of the situation was getting to Gohan. In a way, Yugi's friends were his friends too, and right now at least one of them was being used as a hostage. Eventually, the stress reached a point where Gohan could take it no longer and before he knew it, he had delivered a devastating kick to the Rare Hunter with the remote and destroyed the crate above Tea with a Masenko.

Joey immediately began shouting "Alright child, enough games! Show me your Millennium Item!" with Gohan responding with a laugh and a statement that he didn't have one. The latter was aiming a ki blast at the anchor when Yugi told him to let the duel continue. Apparently, he wanted to try and find a way of breaking through to Joey without the Duel being interrupted. "So this is what Vegeta means when he talks about Saiyan pride," Gohan thought as he stopped charging the energy in his hand and let Yugi resume the Duel. Eventually, through Yugi's efforts, the mind control over Joey broke, but by then the former had lost his last few Life Points, and although it became a Draw, allowing both players a chance at freedom, the anchor dropped before the opportunity could be taken. Upon seeing Yugi and Joey get dragged into the water, Gohan immediately dove in to save them both. Underwater, he could see Joey fiddling with Yugi's ankle, and soon he could see the latter was released. Gohan immediately brought Yugi to the surface and was about to dive back in when he saw someone new dive in with the other key, eventually bringing Joey back. This woman was later identified as Joey's sister Serenity, who arrived with Tristan, Mai and some guy called Duke Devlin a short while ago.

Yugi then brought Gohan up to speed on what was currently happening: he, Joey and Kaiba were participating in a new card game tournament: the Battle City tournament (Gohan was glad at that point that Vegeta wasn't there; it would have been far too much of a disappointment to him) and Yugi and the presence inside his Millenium Puzzle, revealed to be the spirit of a five thousand year old Pharaoh with a _very_ bad case of amnesia, had to deal with a group known as the Rare Hunters and their leader Marik, who could take control of people's minds. Yugi had also acquired a very strong one of a kind card called "Slifer the Sky Dragon", part of a set of three "Egyptian God Cards", the second belonging to Kaiba and the last being in the possession of Marik. They were now trying to win the Battle City tournament to defeat Marik.

Yugi, in return, wanted Gohan to answer a few questions. His first question was quite predictable, what was he? Gohan was at last finally able to answer that: Yugi was, like him, a Human/Saiyan hybrid, and to keep Yugi from thinking that he knew it all along, he mentioned the fact that he was told this by Goku. The second question was also quite predictable: what exactly are the Saiyans? Gohan explained it as best he could; they were an extraterrestrial warrior race that looked a lot like humans except for their tails. They were also quite different to humans because of a number of things, including what happens when a Saiyan looks at a full moon (answering one mystery that Yugi could never figure out in the process: he was told by his grandfather that he could NEVER look at the moon.)

After Gohan's explanation, Tea stated that there is no possible way Yugi could be a Saiyan as he had a human grandfather and, by extension, a human father and mother. She also stated that she hasn't seen any tail of any sort on Yugi, whereupon something moved in the waist of the child in question. From the back of his waist, a large brown lump of hair emerged. It continued to grow taller, moving in an anticlockwise direction around Yugi, until they could finally see it: a brown tail was now sticking out the back of his pants. He turned to Tea, Serenity, Tristan, Duke, Joey and Mai with a sorrowful look on his face. The only ones who really displayed any shock were Tea, Serenity, Mai and Duke, as Joey and Tristan already knew about it, having pulled on it once or twice when they were still Yugi's enemies. After his little secret was exposed, Mai kept muttering to herself that "she didn't know Yugi was a freak, but due to him treating her well, she didn't mind," with Duke doing the same, while the only thing Tea could ask was: "Why didn't you tell us Yugi?"

"I was afraid Tea," was Yugi's response

"Afraid of what?"

"Would you really want to be friends with someone who has a brown, hairy tail sticking out from his back?"

"Ah. I see your point, but after the amount of time we spent together, you could have at least told us!"

"Joey and Tristan already knew about this. As for Mai and Duke, if I had kept my tail exposed when they met me, do you really think we would have started a friendship with them? They would have seen me, and probably you as well, as circus freaks."

"Again, you make a good point Yugi, but _my_ point is that we are your friends: you don't have to keep secrets from us! Look at Mai and Duke, they are still here and from what I have heard, they don't care that you have what you have!"

Yugi could see he was defeated here. He thanked Tea and everyone else for not turning against him when they discovered his tail, and they continued to walk to the Battle City Finals. When Joey asked Serenity what she thought, she told him that she, like Mai and Duke, didn't really care that Yugi had a tail. However, Yugi requested that his tail remain a secret between them, and that he didn't want to bring this knowledge to Kaiba or Marik's attention. He asked the spirit of the Pharaoh what he thought, and as it turned out, he was quite happy that one mystery about Yugi had been answered, as the Pharaoh himself was very confused when he found that his host body had featured a tail, something that he definitely did not remember having in his days as Pharaoh.

Everything proceeded relatively well, aside from one attempted kidnapping of Mai by some guy that Gohan really couldn't be bothered to know, and soon, the group reached the location revealed to the duelists by their Locator Cards. Gohan thought the people who made the finals were quite interesting: he could sense some sort of dark, yet hidden presence inside the man that identified himself as Namu, he could also sense something that felt extremely malevolent inside Ryo Bakura, and was also amazed that he was able to actually duel as, according to Joey, he had sustained a severe injury, and as for Marik, for an evil mastermind who likes taking control of people's minds and turn them against their friends and family, there was absolutely nothing special that Gohan could sense. Gohan, curious to see who the last contestant was, and what he/she might be, he decided to remain outside for a bit longer when everyone else boarded the KaibaCorp blimp that had landed in the stadium. However, it turned out that the only noteworthy fact about the woman that arrived was the fact that she was wearing a mask.

The duels brought Gohan a few interesting experiences. He got to see for the first time the malevolent entity inside Bakura take hold in Yugi's first Duel. He also got to see Slifer the Sky Dragon for the first time, and his first thoughts were of Shenron, the dragon that rose out of the Dragonballs. Gohan thought for a moment that maybe Slifer was just a red Shenron, as they were both dragons and they looked very similar in body structure and length with the only notable differences being the extra mouth, the lack of whiskers and the red and black coloring instead of green and pale yellow.

The one thing that caught Gohan's attention during the duel with Joey and Marik was that, when the latter tried to summon his God Card, there was instead a big lightning storm that knocked both players unconscious, with Joey winning because he was able to get up faster. The time of happiness was, however, short lived, as Gohan sensed the dark presence inside Namu, who was eventually revealed to be the real Marik, begin to grow and take over.

The third duel got Gohan his first taste of the Shadow Realm, courtesy of the real Marik Ishtar's dark presence, and also the first sighting of the Winged Dragon of Ra. Then things got rather confusing for him: Kaiba had assured everyone that the monsters were just holograms, and yet they felt real, and what is more, Joey, and eventually Yugi, moved to shield Mai from the Dragon's flaming breath as it came towards her. If the monsters were indeed holograms, what was there to be afraid of, and if they weren't, why wasn't Yugi trying to deflect the blast somewhere else? Gohan was pretty sure he had taught Yugi how to deflect incoming energy attacks, but then he remembered that the spirit of the Pharaoh had assumed control, and _he_ might not know what Yugi did.

Duel number four didn't really excite or interest Gohan, as it was between some rich guy and the masked woman. Although he got to see the third Egyptian God Card, he couldn't really find anything interesting in the duel. It was only after that, when this woman, named Ishizu, told Yugi of her family history and passed her Millennium Necklace to him, that Gohan took any notice. He got into a good sleep for that night; however, he was woken up later by a strange, yet familiar energy that he had so far sensed twice. He immediately deduced that somebody was playing a Shadow Game, possibly Marik and Bakura, as he could sense neither of their energies. By the time they got to the Duel Arena on the blimp, however, it was too late.

After that, Gohan woke up to another ordinary day… or so he thought. As the sight of a large tower came into view on the horizon that morning, the ship changed course as what was probably a hacker contacted them, after which a fortress emerged from the ocean. The blimp then landed inside the fortress and, with a few orders, a threat and a couple of gunshots from the defensive turrets, everyone except for a select few disembarked and went down a passage. They then ran into a group of five people, none of whom Gohan recognized, who challenged everyone in the room, probably including him, to a Duel in order to acquire a fresh body. After they explained something about a new Deck Master rule, a hole opened up beneath Gohan. He shortly began to fly upwards, but by that point his hole had closed, and something strong started sucking him down the pit. He hoped Yugi and his friends would be alright, and he also secretly hoped that he wouldn't have to Duel, as he didn't have a deck.


	5. Chapter 4: Gohan's first Duel

**Author's note:** Okay, I've more or less come to a decision about what to do. However, I should warn you that most of Gohan's cards are OCs. Such cards will be highlighted **in bold** unless they are mentioned in dialogue, so just keep an eye out for that.

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><p><span>Chapter 4:<span> Gohan's First Duel

Gohan was falling, all the while regretting his lack of interest in Duel Monsters. He was sure that when those men in suits said they were going to duel everyone, they were talking about playing that game. He could see somewhat of an irony here: the one who helped bring down Raditz five or so years ago, the one who had an enormous power that could literally demolish mountains, the one who just for a second brought down Frieza, the one who essentially sent Garlic Jr. back to the Dead Zone, was going to meet his end at the hands of nothing deadlier than a deck of cards.

Eventually, the seemingly bottomless pit disappeared with new scenery emerging, and Gohan fell to what looked like a rocky red plateau in the middle of nowhere. The only thing special about it was the fact that it had featured a few nests of some kind and what was probably a rather large cave. However, he found out quickly that he wasn't alone. There was a loud screech and then, what looked like Mai Valentine's three Harpy Lady Sisters lunged at Gohan, following him as he took to the air. He tried to reason with them that he didn't mean to intrude, but they just kept attacking him and screeching. After five unsuccessful attempts to calm them down, he decided that if they wanted to play rough, he'd oblige them. One Harpy took a kick to the stomach and immediately fell from the sky onto the plateau, unable to cope with the pain. Gohan then appeared right in front of another Harpy and delivered a strong uppercut to the creature's chin, whereupon it also fell to the plateau. The last Harpy, which had the longest hair, took another swipe at him, but quickly found itself being spun around by its hair for a good while until Gohan let go and sent it flying right into the cave. After that came a roar and then flames were seen sprouting from the cave moving towards Gohan, who immediately fired a ki blast at them. The flames were promptly extinguished and the cave exploded, revealing an unconscious red dragon that had smoke rising from its body.

Gohan then tried to sense where Yugi and everybody else was, but the results were confusing: if what he was sensing was right, _they were all there next to him_. He had no time to try and figure out what else to make of this information, because there were suddenly many more Harpies appearing, coming from the slopes of the plateau. Gohan decided to fly to a point above the plateau and wait for them to charge him, and it worked; the Harpies were closing in, all bunched up together. When they were close enough, he disappeared and reappeared at another point above the plateau. Then he put his hands above his head, his left palm on the back of his right hand, and then charged energy in his hands. "Masenko… HA!" he shouted, thrusting his hands forward and shooting the energy at the Harpy Ladies. All of them were caught in the explosion that followed the energy projectile connecting with its target, and with that, Gohan turned around and flew for a few meters until he spotted a very confused-looking bird which had apparently observed all this. "Hey little guy, it wasn't the fact that they were strong, it's just that dealing with them individually would have just been too bothersome and time-consuming, neither of which I can afford right now," he told the creature, after which he continued flying, hoping to find Yugi.

After what seemed like hours of flying, Gohan still had no luck finding Yugi. The only person he managed to find was Tea, who was at the time ascending a flight of stairs to what looked like a palace with a statue of penguins on the outside. He immediately landed beside her, and they continued to walk up the stairs together. Inside, they were confronted by a talking penguin introducing himself as Crump, who immediately challenged Tea to a duel. She asked Gohan if he had any dueling experience, and after he told her he had none, Crump suddenly demanded that the two of them face off against him, as he suspected that it would be far easier to gain the bodies of people who hadn't dueled at all, but it would be more fun to defeat two people at once. Tea and Gohan agreed to the challenge, albeit the latter did so somewhat reluctantly, and all of them were taken to a frozen area to duel.

An interface then appeared in front of Gohan, after which he was told to construct a Deck from the cards shown in it. This was it, the time when all those years of not paying much attention to the game finally come back to bite him in the ass. Gohan tried to choose the best cards he could think of, keeping in mind some of the rules he knew and tips Yugi gave him: he couldn't let his Life Points reach zero, there were often sets of cards that worked best when used together, he'd also have to keep an eye on his enemy's strategies and tactics and use them to his advantage, but above all else he had to have fun, which at the moment was sort of out of the question.

Before the Duel could begin, the Deck Masters had to be chosen. Crump had apparently already chosen his Nightmare Penguin as his, although Gohan was still a bit confused as to why he and the monster weren't separate. Tea then chose her Dark Magician Girl, and now it was down to Gohan to choose his. He eventually settled on **Twin sister of Light,** a female in long golden robes with waist-length blond hair, as his Deck Master, and thus the Duel began. Tea let Gohan take the first move, so first he played his continuous Magic Card **Galick Gun,** and a purple sphere appeared which had an attack point counter of 0, and then he summoned his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing** (0/2500), a four star monster that looked like a long wooden pole adorned with carvings of religious crosses and hearts and featured angelic wings at the top, in Defense Mode, after which he let Tea take over. Tea placed a card face down then summoned Ancient Elf in Attack Mode (1450/1200) after which the **Galick Gun's** Attack point counter jumped to 725

"Why did the value of your Galick Gun change Gohan?" Tea asked, confused

"When it is in play, whenever a player my side of the field summons a monster, half that monster's attack strength gets added to my Galick Gun's strength."

"Strength? Does that mean your Galick Gun can attack?"

"Yes, but I only get one shot."

"It's my turn now!" Crump shouted. He then summoned a Giant Red Seasnake (1800/800), increased its attack strength by 200 due to his Deck Master ability and played his Cold Wave, stopping Tea from using her set card. The Seasnake then destroyed her Elf, bringing her Life points to 3450 and, for some reason, creating a buildup of ice on her.

Gohan's turn then came, and his Life points jumped to 5000. Both Tea and Crump questioned him, and he revealed it was due to his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing** having a special ability: the owner's Life points increase by 500 for every monster, including the totem, on the field at the start of each turn. He then summoned his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Defense** {0/500(X)}, also a four-star monster, looking essentially the same as the previous one, but instead having shields and armor carved into it and the tip featuring a large shield, in Defense Mode. It started out with 500 points, but then it jumped to 1500. Gohan revealed that it gained 500 defense points for every monster, including itself, on the field. In addition, it couldn't attack at all, and all attacks on Gohan's monsters get redirected to it. He then let Tea take her turn, whereupon she set a monster, upgrading Gohan's Defense totem to 2000 defense and gave Crump his turn, during which he immediately set two cards.

Gohan had a bad feeling about the cards, and as soon as he took his turn and received 1500 Life Points (6500 total), decided to deviate slightly from his original plan and summon Mira the Eternal Magician (1800/1000) in Attack Mode, also upgrading his Defense Totem's defense to 2500 points and his **Galick Gun** to 1625, after which he, due to its special ability that enabled him to look at one of Crump's Set cards, revealed the Mirror Wall trap that his opponent had set. Tea then destroyed the trap he showed her with Mystical Space Typhoon, but activated Crump's other trap, destroying her own set Mirror Force card. She then destroyed the Giant Red Seasnake with Offerings to the Doomed, lowering Gohan's Totem's points to 2000, and flip-summoned her Fire Sorcerer (1000/1500), increasing the **Galick Gun **to a total of 2125 points. She then used its special ability to damage Crump by 800 points at the cost of two cards, then attacked directly, bringing his Life points down to a total of 2200. Crump summoned a Flying Penguin (1200/1400) and boosted it with his Deck Master ability by 200, then with a Penguin Sword Magic Card, bringing the Flying Penguin's total attack strength to 2200. The monster then attacked Tea's Fire Sorcerer, bringing her to 2250 Life Points.

Gohan drew, collected 2000 Life points due to there being his two totems, his Magician and Crump's Penguin on the field, bringing them to 8500. He then summoned his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense** {500(X)/0}, a four star monster that looked exactly the same as the other Totems, but instead had swords and arrowheads carved into it and featured a large sword at the top, in Attack Mode. Both its Attack Power, and the Defense totem's defense points climbed to 2500, and both Tea and Crump made the connection of this increase to the Totem's special ability. The **Galick Gun**, however, only increased by 250 to a total of 2375 points as the totem's effect of counting all the monsters applied after the summoning, leaving it with a starting total of 500. His next move came as a surprise: he ordered Mira to attack the Flying Penguin. The outcome was predictable; Gohan lost 400 life points, bringing his total to 8100.

"Why on earth did you do that Gohan? You knew that monster was weaker than his!" Tea asked.

"Because, Tea, now I can do this," he replied, and then he summoned his Deck Master, the **Twin Sister of Light** (1500/1500), whereupon a second monster appeared with the same number of attack and defense points, looking almost exactly the same as the Deck Master, except its skin was what appeared to be an extremely pale blue-white color, its hair was instead black, and robes were an extremely dark shade of blue. Gohan began speaking: "Whenever **Twin Sister of Light** is summoned, I must automatically summon from my deck or hand my **Twin Sister of Darkness**. I did so from my hand in this case. I shall now activate my **Twin Sister of Light**'s Deck Master Ability: If I gained any Life points this turn, I can target one player and give them the same number of Life Points, but in exchange, that player can't attack for one turn. I choose…" Gohan looked at Tea, who nodded, "…Tea." Her Life Points increased by 2000 to a total of 4250. The **Galick Gun** then increased to 3875 points due to the combined 750 points offered up by the two new creatures.

Gohan then let Tea have a shot, and she set a monster. Crump attacked and destroyed her monster, Skelengel, after which she used its effect to draw the card she originally couldn't do at the beginning of her turn due to Offerings to the Doomed, as well as add 450 points to the **Galick Gun**, bringing it to 4325 points.

Gohan collected 3000 Life Points to get a total of 11100 due to his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing**. He then placed one card face down and activated another special ability of his Totems, he can sacrifice two of his lesser ones to Special Summon something else. He sacrificed his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense** and his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing **to Special Summon **Greater Mystic Totem of the Vampire **(?/0), which was twice the size of its Lesser counterparts, and instead had drops of blood and fangs carved into it, with two large fangs adorning the top, in Attack mode. Gohan informed everyone that this Totem has instead 750 attack points for each friendly monster on the field and 250 for each enemy, giving it a grand total of 3250. The Totem then attacked Flying Penguin, but suddenly Gohan activated his set Turn Jump, skipping three turns, whereupon three carved fangs started glowing. The attack resumed, taking 1050 Life Points away from Crump, leaving him with 1150. All of the fangs then stopped glowing, and Gohan got 2200 Life Points for a grand total of 13300.

Tea and Crump were both lost, and the latter demanded an explanation. Gohan explained that every turn the Totem doesn't attack, it automatically gets a "Hunger counter", and since Turn Jump was played, it got three of a possible nine. Three counters can then be sacrificed in battle so that, if a monster is destroyed by the Totem, then the total of the monster's attack or defense points (depending on which mode it's in) get added to his Life Points. Gohan then activated his Deck Master's ability, increasing Tea's Life Points by 3000 for his one lesser totem, then 2250 for his greater totem's effect, to get a total of 9450 yet forbidding her from attacking her turn. Tea summoned Maha Vailo (1550/1400) bringing her partner's **Galick Gun** to 5100, but had to end her turn as she couldn't attack due to Gohan's Deck Master. Crump, sensing that, for a first timer, beginner's luck or not, Gohan was frighteningly good, decided to stop ignoring him. His Life Points, after all, were through the roof, and if something wasn't done soon, he was going to lose his chance to take over their bodies, preferably Tea's. He summoned Bolt Penguin (1100/800) in Defense mode, set one card and then activated his Swords of Revealing Light, targeting Gohan.

Gohan began his turn; however, there were no Life Points to collect, as his greater totem could not heal him during his Standby phases. He could see he was in a bind here, so he activated another special ability of his **Greater Mystic Totem of the Vampire**, sacrificing it to Special Summon **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense** and **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing**. He then sacrificed the former along with **Lesser Mystic Totem of Defense** to Special Summon **Greater Mystic Totem of the Fortress**, {?/500(X)}, which had grey stone walls carved into it and featured a ballista at the top, in Defense mode. The same rules of Attack point calculation applied as with its Vampire counterpart i.e. 750 for all friendly monsters, 250 for all enemy monsters, but defense point calculation was still 500 for every monster, giving it a total of 4000 Attack and 3000 Defense points. As soon as Gohan ended his turn, a stone wall lit up on the totem, and upon request he revealed it to be a Barricade counter, and any time the Totem is attacked, one can be removed to negate 500 points of damage

Tea took over, attacking Bolt Penguin with Maha Vailo, unfortunately triggering Crump's set Revenge Sacrifice in the process. Although his monster was gone, so was hers, and he had just brought out Defender Iceberg (0/2450), so with no monsters, she was forced to end her turn. Crump set a card and summoned a Penguin Torpedo (550/500), and after giving it a 200 point boost, attacked Tea, destroying it and bringing her down to 8700 Life points.

Gohan drew, and collected 2500 Life points, bringing his total to 15800. He set his Mirror Force, Dark Hole and Heavy Storm cards, and then activated Emergency Provisions, sacrificing all three set cards and increasing his Life Points by another thousand for each magic card sent, for a grand total of 18800. Then his Deck Master gave Tea the 5500 life points he earned, bringing her to a total of 14200. Although the move probably wasn't necessary, he needed the space in his hand, and besides, it felt rewarding to keep her in the game, not to mention necessary. He collected a Barricade counter on his greater totem, and then let his partner take the reins. Tea then summoned her own Deck Master, the Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700), which also boosted Gohan's **Galick Gun** by 1000 for a total of 6100, and equipped her with Magic Formula, increasing her strength to 2700, but due to Gohan's Deck Master Ability's side effect, she couldn't attack. Crump revealed his set card, Ocean of Regeneration, and restored his Penguin Torpedo, which then attacked Tea and self destructed, bringing her to 13450 Life Points, after which he set a card.

Gohan's turn came, and is Life Point total reached 21800 and played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Crump's swords. He then attacked his Defender Iceberg with **Greater Mystic Totem of the Fortress**, which had 4000 Attack points due to five friendly monsters worth 750 each and one enemy monster for 250 points. His Totem was about to destroy the Iceberg, but then Crump triggered Negate Attack, ending Gohan's battle phase. He was about to use his Deck Master's ability to heal Tea, but she objected, saying it wasn't necessary at that point. She attacked Defender Iceberg with her upgraded Dark Magician Girl, destroying it. It was only after this that Gohan remembered: he had his **Galick Gun** at the ready. He could have fired it ages ago and won, but he forgot about it.

"You got me this time, but I'll still be able to hold out and defeat you!" Crump shouted at Tea, but then Gohan interrupted. "That is what you think, but we have all forgotten my Magic Card. It can be played anytime, like a Quick-Play card, and it works the same as declaring an attack. Now, I target your Life Points. Galick Gun..."

Tea looked on, and Crump braced himself...

"…FIRE!" The purple sphere of energy suddenly shot a large beam at Crump, who was with 1150 Life Points and, with 6100 points of damage incoming, it was over. The beam collided with him, swiftly destroying him, and shot through to one of the background icebergs, annihilating it in a large purple explosion.

More ice shattered towards the west, after which Yugi flew towards Tea and Gohan with a shocked look on his face. After giving the freezing Tea his jacket, he asked Gohan if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"No, I actually did Duel, believe it or not, and I am really surprised with how it turned out. I thought I'd sink Tea underneath the water with my skill," Gohan told him

"You actually dueled very well Gohan. As far as I could see, there was only one rookie mistake: you forgot what cards you had on the field and from the looks of it this time, it only cost you time, but just remember that in future," Yugi responded

"I have to say though, when Cramp, or what was his name?"

"Crump, I think,"

"…Crump demanded I duel him as well, I thought I was a goner for sure"

"I always knew you'd make a great duelist Gohan."

"It was just beginner's luck Yugi."

"'Beginner's luck' my butt Gohan," Tea started. "If it hadn't been for you healing me like that I'm sure I'd have lost the Duel. You used your cards very efficiently. You held up better than I did, and I could almost swear we would never be running out of Life Points thanks to your little card combination."

"Cramp probably considered me to be too insignificant a threat, but I think had he focused on me, I think I'd have been knocked out."

"No Gohan, you handled yourself great, but remember his name was Crump."

"Still, you guys look like you make a great team," Yugi said. "Although I have to admit, I haven't seen some of the cards you've used."

"Which cards Yugi?" Gohan inquired.

"The Totem cards, the Twin Sister cards and the Galick Gun."

"In fact…" boomed a voice around them, "…that boy is probably the first person in recorded history to use those cards. People haven't bothered with them before." However, the voice spoke no more, and there were other things happening. A doorway had appeared, and Yugi, Gohan and Tea still needed to find the rest of their friends.

* * *

><p><strong><span>End note:<span>** The Galick Gun was inspired by the Dragonball Z attack of the same name used by Vegeta, while the rest I just thought up by myself. There was also one scene I really wanted to add: it involved Gohan pointing out to Tea that Dark Magician Girl, because she's female, is actually her Deck Mistress and Tea, Crump and Dark Magician Girl all shouting "NERD!" at him. It was deleted because it wasn't really important to the story and besides, the Gohan "Nerd" joke was originally thought up by Team Four Star.


	6. Chapter 5: Matches, Madness and Monkeys

**Author's note:** Just a reminder, any monsters presented in bold are my OCs, even though (spoiler warning) the duels here do not feature them.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5:<span> Matches, madness and monkeys

Gohan, Yugi and Tea were running through a tunnel, on their way to the next Duel. During this, Tea asked Gohan what he could have summoned if he sacrificed his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Defense** and his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing**, to which he replied that he would have gotten a **Greater Mystic Totem of the Sanctuary **(0/?), which gained 750 Defense points for every friendly monster and 250 for every enemy. Its abilities included enemies not being able to select other monsters as attack targets, healing for the same rules as Defense Point Calculation at the beginning of every turn and the ability to receive and use Protection Counters, which could be gained by not having any attacks declared against the controller or his monsters during his opponent's turn, and two of them could be used to negate any hostile spells, traps or monster abilities that adversely affected the controller.

They eventually found Joey dueling against some weird Beast man or something with a gavel. Gohan assumed that this must have been someone's Deck Master, but as the duel went on, he thought that manipulating Joey's luck-based actions was his special ability. It was only after Noah came in and attempted to disqualify the man, revealed to be one Johnson, for cheating that Gohan realized that something was off. After Joey won the Duel, the four of them eventually found Serenity and Duke Devlin dueling presumably another member of the Big Five. Serenity had apparently almost given up, but Joey, Yugi, Tea and Gohan gave her their support, and eventually, she and Duke pulled through, although they later found out that Tristan lost his Deck Master and, by extension, the duel.

The four of them then went looking for Tristan, and eventually found him attacking Kaiba and Mokuba. This confused Gohan, but after it was revealed that the attacker was actually Nesbitt, the duelist to whom Tristan had lost, Gohan immediately delivered a strong jab to the imposter's abdomen, throwing him backwards into a building. He later emerged on a motorcycle, grabbed Mokuba and rode off, punching his hostage in the stomach. Gohan immediately decided to give chase and took to the air, but all of a sudden a Giga-Tech Wolf flew at him, distracting him long enough for Nesbitt to escape. After getting the cursed thing off him, Gohan found out Kaiba had taken a motorcycle and pursued Nesbitt, and the rest of them, including a strange robot monkey, followed in a three-wheeled pickup truck.

When they got there, Gohan was sure he'd just found the monster that would be the bane of Goku's existence: Injection Fairy Lily. He unknowingly deviated from his original plan to watch Kaiba's Duel with another one of those Big Five to imagine Goku trying to avoid coming into the contact with the dreaded needle using any means necessary. By the time he snapped out of it, Kaiba had already won, and had resumed searching for Mokuba.

Everything went relatively smoothly. Yugi and Tea had separated from the rest of the group, and Gohan decided to stay with Serenity, Duke, Joey and the robot monkey in case anything attacked them. After all, without either him or Yugi there, they were defenseless.

Eventually, something did attack them, and it turned out to be four of the Big Five. Joey tried to evade their attacks, all of which were aimed at their vehicle, while Gohan remained behind to fight them off. Lector used his Jinzo to fire eye lasers at him, but everyone was surprised when Gohan just deflected them with his arm. What was even more surprising, especially for the attackers, was when he returned fire. The first ki blast, aimed at Lector, instead hit a weird fish-type creature. Gohan's second hit Crump, who fell from the sky, a few meters ahead of his first compatriot. Next to fall to a ki blast was Johnson, who, as he fell, swore to somehow put Gohan on trial for attempts to do grievous bodily harm. Lector managed to dodge Gohan's fourth shot, but ultimately succumbed to a fifth, after which Gohan flew down the road to catch up with Joey. Eventually, all four of the apparently not so big Five who were attacking recovered and charged down the road. Gohan saw them coming, and immediately raised his hands above his head, placing his left palm on the back of his right hand. An energy wave started charging up, and when the fish-warrior creature, Crump, Johnson and Lector were close, it happened. "Masenko… HA!" he shouted, thrusting his hands forward and letting go of the energy. The projectile hit Lector and then caused a large explosion which launched the truck of Joey, Serenity, Duke and the monkey forward, also causing it to overturn and roll along the ground, throwing Duke straight into the air. It would surely have been a deadly fall had Gohan not noticed and caught him before he hit the ground.

They were soon reunited with Yugi, Tea and Kaiba, and after that, things went relatively smoothly. They ran into Nesbitt in Tristan's body, and through him, all of the Big Five dueled against Yugi and Joey. They didn't allow Gohan to participate though, as from the sounds of it, Crump was extremely fearful of his abilities. After the two won, got Tristan his body back and Gohan fended off yet another attack that ended with Noah banishing Big Five, they then proceeded to watch Kaiba's duel against Noah. Gohan was quite appalled that the latter used Kaiba's brother as a shield to stop an attack, yet amazed at the fact that he could also heal himself, just like Gohan did in his match against Crump. The duel's conclusion, however, sickened both him and Yugi, to the point that the latter would continue the Duel: Noah turned both Kaiba Brothers into stone.

Yugi also used Seto's graveyard, as technically, he was just taking over the duel. As it continued, though, Gohan felt a very strong urge to screw the rules and interfere in the fight. The reason for this was that, towards the end of the duel, Noah began turning more people into stone. First were Duke, then Tristan, then Serenity, then Tea, then Joey and finally, Gohan. However, Gohan wasn't going to stand for this. As he stood helpless in stone, he felt a growing power inside him. It was rising to the point where he couldn't contain it even if he tried, and soon his stone form burst open, and he immediately flew like a bullet right into Noah's Deck Master form, getting thrown back to the other statues afterwards by Noah, in shock that he managed to escape from being turned into stone and gasping for air.

The Duel would eventually end in Yugi's favor, after which Noah tried unsuccessfully to take his body. However, a new face revealed itself after everyone was turned back to normal, which Seto Kaiba had identified as his stepfather Gozaburo Kaiba. His first act was a strange one; he turned the Virtual World's environment into night and a full moon had appeared in the sky, after which Yugi was restrained in such a way that he was forced to look at it. Gohan couldn't see what Gozaburo had hoped to accomplish with this, but then it hit him: Yugi was part Saiyan with the tail, and that spelled bad news. After a few minutes of Yugi panicking and trying desperately to close his eyes, during which Gohan kept trying to remove the restraints but was kept away by an invisible force field, his muscles began bulking up to the point that his clothes were destroyed, and everyone saw him grow in size, brown hair sprouting all over him, until he looked totally different than before. This wasn't tiny little spiky-haired Yugi Muto, this was a giant hairy gorilla gone berserk. This gorilla was hitting and crushing any piece of terrain it could reach, and also firing ki blasts from its mouth, further devastating the Virtual World. "What have you done to Yug you freak?" Joey shouted.

"I just made him show all of you what he really is." Gozaburo responded.

"Enough with these pathetic mind games Father!" Kaiba began shouting.

"These aren't mind games Seto, I'm just showing you what the boy really is!"

"By hacking into the Virtual World and changing Yugi's body to a giant monkey?"

"I didn't have to hack into anything! All he needs to do is look at the moon and voila, you see his true colors!"

"Just because you made Yugi turn into a giant gorilla doesn't mean that's who he truly is!" Tea then spoke.

Noah, meanwhile, was trying to delete the moon, and after a few minutes, it was gone and the daylight returned. The Great Ape then started shrinking, its mouth returning to normal, and the body hair disappearing. Eventually, Yugi Muto lay naked on the ground where the Great Ape used to be, his tail there for everyone to see until Noah made his original clothes appear on his body. Noah then offered to help everyone escape, and after getting stabbed in the back, fighting off an army of monsters (mainly due to Gohan's support), being informed of an incoming orbital strike and having Noah help them escape for real, they all awoke in some sort of connection pod, but suddenly Noah told Gohan to wait, and that he had a present for him.

After a few minutes, a secret compartment opened in a nearby wall. It contained a Duel Disk and a deck of Duel Monsters cards. Looking through the cards, Gohan realized that this was the Deck he had created in the Virtual World, card for card. "Take them Gohan…" Noah said through the intercom, "…I have a feeling you'll need them later."

"But Noah..."

"I suggest you take them now Gohan. Many of your cards you'd have to scour the globe for so I'm doing you a favor. Besides, this probably won't be the first time you'll be forced into a Duel, so take them!"

After a while, Gohan took both items, but waited for Yugi and Kaiba, both of whom were still inside the Virtual World, while everyone else headed back to the blimp. Remembering one other thing Yugi needed help with, he questioned Noah about the identity and possible whereabouts of Mrs. Muto, but strangely enough, there was no data on either of those subjects. Once Yugi and Kaiba were free, all three of them ran back to the blimp and took off just before the orbital strike hit, just barely escaping the resulting explosion. After that, the Battle City tournament resumed, and Kaiba, Marik, Yugi and Joey, when they arrived at the island, were set to Duel in a four way free-for-all to which no spectators were allowed, so Gohan tried practicing his skills in a non-tournament duel with Ishizu in the meantime.

The finals did pique Gohan's interest a bit. The first semi final round kept his attention as it seemed to test not only dueling skill, but physical endurance as well, as Joey faced off against Marik. He almost won, but collapsed at the end due to the pain suffered as a result of all the physical damage dealt to him as part of the "Shadow Game". The last semi final was watched by Gohan in mid-air and, surprisingly, a God vs. God scenario nearly blew him away from the Duel Tower. The Final round was a cause for concern though: the very souls of Yugi and the real Marik were at stake. Gohan, for the first time since sensing the Pharaoh inside Yugi, saw that the two separate power levels he had been sensing inside one body had just become one for the body that the Pharaoh was using, and one for Yugi, who hung shackled by the shadows in the air. It was a very close call, but after the man who originally posed as Marik came up to the Duel Tower, the dark presence that had since taken over Marik's body suddenly found himself trying to retain control over it, and eventually it was damaged enough that the real Marik could regain control and surrender the Duel, saving Yugi and destroying the dark presence once and for all.

With Yugi's victory came an announcement: the island was going to be destroyed. However, as it turned out, the blimp was powerless so everyone, save for Yugi and Gohan, was stranded. The solution to the problem soon arrived: a helicopter that was originally meant to get Joey to a hospital, and with everybody on board the blimp informed that they shall instead be using said helicopter, it took off with about a minute to spare before the Duel Tower island was rocked by explosions, and a jet in the shape of a Blue Eyes White Dragon emerged with the Kaiba Brothers inside. Ishizu, Marik and their stepbrother Odion later left for their home after requesting to be Yugi's guides when he visits Egypt, and after that, Mai and Duke parted as well. Gohan only left for Mount Paozu after getting to say hi to Solomon Muto. It was kind of essential that Gohan get back home: he had missed out on two days of training, and according to the warning they got, the Androids were on the horizon.

Meanwhile, a day later in a little village in an undisclosed location, one of the villagers was rushing to one of the houses. After entering, he knelt, stared into the dark corners of the dwelling and spoke: "My Lady, I think I found something that you may like to know."

"Really?" spoke a female voice.

"Yes, my Lady."

"Well?"

"It involves one of the Saiyans we discussed," after which he held out a report. A hand reached out of the darkness and took it away from him, and then both withdrew back into the shadows. "This is very interesting indeed. You may go," the female voice spoke after a few minutes. Once the villager was gone, words could be heard echoing through the hut: "From the sounds of it, he's getting quite rowdy. I may have to keep an eye on him."


	7. Chapter 6: The Androids Cometh

**Author's note:** Welcome to chapter 6 of Yugi's just Saiyan. Lately I have been thinking, I made Yugi a Super Saiyan earlier in the story, but there hasn't been any scenario that necessitated transformation into that state, and I am also getting a bit tired of getting Gohan through the Yugioh portion of the story. Besides, that has taken enough time in the spotlight for now, so sorry Waking the Dragons arc, I'm sidelining you for the next few chapters in favor of the Androids saga of DBZ

Chapter name inspired by name of Yugioh dubbed episodes 215-219 "The Dark One Cometh"

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><p><span>Chapter 6:<span> The Androids Cometh

One day at his game shop, Yugi awoke, quite restless. Somehow, he had managed to see things that couldn't possibly have happened. It was probably due to an effect of Ishizu's Millennium Nacklace, but it was disturbing nonetheless. The visions were of Goku, and in them he was clutching his chest in pain, struggling to stay alive. What exactly was happening was a mystery, but one thing was certain: Goku was in serious danger. Yugi had to warn him of what was going to happen, and to that end, he prepared packing in order to leave for Mount Paozu. He wasn't taking much, but what he was taking were the three Egyptian God Cards, his Deck, his Duel Disk and the Millennium Items. After saying a temporary goodbye to Joey, Tea, Tristan and his grandfather, all of whom asked him to say hi to Gohan from them, he lifted off and departed from Domino City.

The journey to Mount Paozu was a long one, but time was of the essence. Both Yugi and the Pharaoh believed that if Goku wasn't warned in time, he was going to die, and the planet couldn't afford to lose one of its greatest protectors. Eventually though, he touched down at Goku and Gohan's cottage. There to greet him, however, was Chi-Chi, who was preparing food at the time, who immediately said, with a smile on her face, that it had been too long since his last visit. Further conversing with her, Yugi found out that she knew just about everything that happened, from him making so many friends, to him winning both Duelist Kingdom and Battle City Duel monsters tournaments, to him surviving so many dangerous situations (she mentioned that the first time she found out she had panicked, she didn't want her son's best friend to lose his life,) to him becoming a Super Saiyan and also the return of the Pharaoh.

After a while, Goku, Gohan and Piccolo touched down outside, and were greeted with an interesting sight: Yugi was there, helping Chi-Chi lay the table with food. "Hey Yugi, long time no see," Goku told him.

"Yeah, good to see you too Goku," Yugi responded. He was a little downhearted since he had to be the bearer of bad news.

"So kid, how things been going? Also, how comfortable are you transforming to Super Saiyan?"

"I haven't actually transformed again since Duelist Kingdom. Why do you ask?"

"Well, Gohan's told us of the various perils you've faced since then, and I think it would be a good idea if you trained yourself, especially with your Super Saiyan transformation. Who knows what tomorrow might bring."

"Trained myself, especially with the Super Saiyan transformation?"

"Yes Yugi. In fact, I think it would be a good idea if you transformed now. Just do it, and tell me how it feels."

"Okay," and Yugi tried to remember what had happened in Duelist Kingdom, how he had called up that power. It took a lot of effort, but eventually he felt it, that burning flame that drove him to survive in the draining Shadow Realm. He grabbed hold of it with even more effort, and it happened: his hair flared up and turned gold, and he was generating the golden aura of a Super Saiyan.

"Well Yugi, how did it feel?" Goku asked.

"It actually felt like I was straining myself. I needed to try and remember what it felt like to transform, and the actual transformation itself was also quite taxing," Yugi responded.

"I think that's just because you haven't done it in a while. Eventually, you'll be able to do it without much effort, so don't worry too much about that."

"Even holding this transformation I still feel I'm using a lot of energy."

"Wait… that kid is like you and Trunks?" Piccolo burst out.

"Well… sort of, in that he can become a Super Saiyan, but he's not really a fighter." Goku answered

"We have to train that kid! His help could be invaluable against the Androids!"

"It's not that simple Piccolo, he isn't used to fighting!"

"Neither was Gohan when he was five, but still, he's had to endure so many battles! Besides, you yourself said not too long ago that he might need training to survive whatever challenges await him!"

"I suppose I did. Yugi, would you mind training with us. I'll even teach you how to effectively control your Super Saiyan form."

"I guess that will work," Yugi said, after which he mentally asked the Pharaoh's opinion. He also thought it would be good for Yugi to train his body. The next day, Yugi was training with Piccolo, Gohan and Goku. Yugi's earlier training with Gohan had proved that he knew the basics of fighting, but he still couldn't compete with the rest. Over the next couple of days, the training became much more intense, pushing Yugi to his limits, as both he and Goku were training in their Super Saiyan forms.

Yugi eventually remembered amid all his training what he was originally there for and, after a while, managed to catch Goku alone, after which he told him about his nightmares. Strangely, Goku was not surprised, as he had already been forewarned of the deadly heart virus that would attack a few years prior by the Super Saiyan swordsman Trunks, who had also given medicine to cure the virus. This greatly comforted both Yugi and the Pharaoh. After that, the training had continued as usual. Yugi had told his friends that he'd be gone for maybe a week or two, so they ought not to worry. During the training, he had been able to improve his ability to go Super Saiyan that it started to almost feel like flipping a switch, although it did still place a bit of strain on him.

By the end of the training, Yugi was a slight bit more muscular and had greatly improved fighting techniques, such that he and Gohan were relatively equal with regards to strength. He had also learned more on how to properly use the Super Saiyan form from Goku. However, one day came. Everyone flew to a remote island, where, according to the information Goku gave Yugi, Trunks told them two deadly androids would attack. They hoped to stop the androids before they caused any serious damage like what happened in Trunks' time. On the way, Yugi met up with Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Bulma and the obese Yajirobe.

It turned out Yajirobe only came by to drop off some Senzu Beans in case anyone needed healing. However, as he took flight away from there via a hovercar, it suddenly exploded. Gohan and Yugi caught on quickly and moved to aid the falling Yajirobe while everyone else scoured the one city on the island looking for the cause of the explosion: the two Androids. Soon, the city started exploding, and it angered both Saiyan hybrids. Eventually, Krillin brought Yamcha back from the city claiming that the latter needed a Senzu Bean immediately. After eating the bean and healing very quickly (something with amazed Yugi and the Pharaoh), Yamcha told everyone of how the Androids could drain energy, and how Goku must be informed of this at once. He, Krillin, Gohan and Yugi immediately took off, hoping to get to Goku in time.

Yugi found it quite strange that he could only sense Goku's power level, but not the Androids. Gohan shared with him a theory: that maybe it was impossible to sense the Androids. Krillin apparently agreed, and soon they arrived at the battlefield. Yugi and the Pharaoh were quite uneasy about the battle, as although Goku's attacks were landing, they could sense that they were falling short of their target when it came to strength, and this was at Super Saiyan. It turned out that they weren't the only ones worried: after Krillin asked if there was anything to worry about since Goku had the upper hand, Gohan answered with a 'yes', and Piccolo said that there was every reason to be worried, also confirming the connection made by Yugi and the Pharaoh with regard to Goku's strength.

Goku even tried launching two Kamehameha waves, but without success as apparently they had just rejuvenated the Android. To make matters worse, Goku had lost almost all of his energy and was starting to clutch at his heart.

Yugi wondered what was going on, but then Gohan made the connection with the heart virus. Goku was then thrown a Senzu Bean, which was eaten, but to no avail, the Android beat him into the ground. It was getting too much for Yugi, Gohan, Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo, and soon they decided they had to interfere. Before they could get there, the other Android blocked their path, saying that they will stay right where they are or fall victim to him. Piccolo was the first to attack and the first to fall. The Android apparently noticed that there was a large amount of power building up in Yugi.

"King of Games, you do know the game I play is vastly different from that insignificant pastime you call a sport!" it taunted. Yugi wasn't sure how much longer he could keep his anger under control. All of a sudden, the Android that had by now got a firm hold on Goku could then be seen flying across the ground.

Yugi managed to get a good look at the one responsible for the surprise attack, but found he didn't recognize him. He could tell that the new arrival was a Saiyan, mainly because he could somehow just feel it in his blood. Eventually, he was identified as Vegeta and, strangely, also royalty, being the 'prince of all Saiyans', but Yugi didn't really feel the need to acknowledge that part. After Vegeta kicked Goku to them, Yugi and Yamcha took him away to get the heart medicine.

Yugi and the Pharaoh both agreed that they need to stay with Goku, otherwise he is essentially defenseless. Yamcha, after all, was easily beaten by the Androids, and even though Yugi was only half-Saiyan, he was still the only viable option to protect Goku. Eventually, Krillin, Trunks (as he was revealed to Yugi) and Gohan came later in an aircraft, and took Yugi, Chi-Chi, Yamcha and the ailing Goku away from the cottage and to the remote Kame House. Yugi suddenly felt quite fearful when he learned that the two Androids that Goku fought were not the same Androids that had devastated Trunks' timeline. What was worse, _those_ Androids had been activated, and were a lot stronger in this timeline than in his time. Curious, Yugi asked Trunks what became of him in that timeline, and the answer was quite alarming: eventually, Domino City became a target of the Androids; they proceeded to turn the city into a wasteland, with very few surviving.

At some point, Trunks got a call about a time machine and also got faxed a picture, after which he and Gohan left the ship. Yugi and the Pharaoh opted to stay behind to protect Goku should the need arise. The Pharaoh was quite uneasy though, something told him that there was something very wrong. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but there was something far more sinister at work than the Androids. Gohan and Trunks returned to Kame House after a while, after which the former told Yugi about what they discovered: there was apparently an egg or something similar in the Time Machine, and a shed bug carapace not far from it, and whatever shed it did so recently.

The Pharaoh could tell that somehow what Gohan described was related to the evil he was sensing. Everyone was later watching the news, and what was described led the Pharaoh to put two and two together and identify the evil's location in the remote Gingertown, which was experiencing what he felt was a genocide. Trunks left for Gingertown to investigate, but soon after, something weird began to happen. Yugi could sense from afar that a battle had broken out between Piccolo and possibly the Gingertown evil that the Pharaoh sensed, but what he didn't understand was the fact that if what he was sensing was right, there was _another_ Piccolo, and that Piccolo could be fighting himself. Then all of a sudden, Yugi could sense the presence of Frieza and someone else, identified by the others as his father, King Cold. Then he could sense Goku's energy, even though Gohan had confirmed that Goku was still at Kame House. Then, Yugi started sensing a completely different power level, but he couldn't identify whose power level it was. Nobody could.

After a while, due to everyone deciding to go in pursuit of the evil creature they were sensing, Yugi was left with Chi-Chi, Master Roshi and the still unconscious Goku, the lone defender in case someone were to attack. But then after a while it happened. Yugi was out front when Goku appeared next to him. He had recovered at long last!


	8. Chapter 7: A King must Ascend

Chapter 7: A King must Ascend

Yugi's heart filled with joy at the sight before him. Goku was standing right next to him. "Hey kiddo," he eventually spoke. Yugi was just about to respond when Chi-Chi came bursting out the door, running to embrace Goku, and the two shared a moment together. Later, inside Kame House, Goku mentioned his plan to get even stronger than a Super Saiyan. This confused not only Chi-Chi and Master Roshi, but also Yugi and the Pharaoh. They didn't know of any level _beyond_ the current Super Saiyan transformation, but when they voiced their opinions about that, Goku just replied that they haven't participated in any major battles that forced them to go Super Saiyan. This, in a way, was true: so far Yugi hadn't been fighting against anything that required him to use his own fists; the battles had been fought through card games, especially of the Shadow Game variety.

Goku eventually told everyone (including Yugi) of a place where a year of training could be acquired in one day. Needless to say, everyone was confused, but afterwards, Goku told Yugi to hold his hand. Then, his index and middle fingers were pressed to his forehead, and all of a sudden the scenery changed: now they were in an aircraft with Krillin, Gohan, Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo. After the reunion with everyone, Yugi finally found the answer to where Goku was going to train: a place called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Gohan was then told that he would be training with his father and told to hold his hand with Yugi. The scenery changed again afterwards. They were in barren wastes with Trunks and Vegeta, the latter of whom was quite confused as to why 'Kakarot' was keeping with him a "pathetic low-level human". Both Yugi and the Pharaoh were disgusted by this remark, but the latter was just able to hold the former back from attacking, explaining that he could currently sense that Vegeta was too strong for them at the moment.

After getting Vegeta and Trunks on board with Goku's training plan, the scenery then changed to something that neither Yugi nor the Pharaoh had seen before: a large flat circular floor with a few small buildings located on top. The caretaker, Mr. Popo, then led all five Saiyans to the entrance of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. First to enter was Vegeta and Trunks, and the rest were to wait for a day. Yugi spent quite a bit of time conversing with and questioning Gohan, Goku and Mr. Popo about many things, like their current location (revealed to be Kami's Lookout), and what was going on below. Yugi was a bit worried; he knew he also had to enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but with who? Goku and Gohan were going to go in, but Yugi couldn't join them as the Chamber could only provide for two people at a time.

As the day went on, things got a lot tenser, as all three of the Saiyans could sense Piccolo fighting, with the monster now known as Cell joining in later. A couple of minutes after that, Cell's energy increased drastically, and Yugi could sense the Namekian and Tien, the former of which could barely be sensed a few moments after Cell's increase in energy and the latter diminishing in energy for quite a bit before hitting rock bottom. After this, Goku teleported away from the Lookout and a moment later reappeared with both combatants, one in each of his arms, healing them with Senzu Beans. They later informed everyone that Cell's energy had increased due to him absorbing one of two Androids, Android 17.

The next day, Vegeta and Trunks emerged from the Time Chamber. Everyone could sense how much stronger they had become, and Vegeta unwittingly answered one question Yugi had always had but never really thought too much about: Why did he never need a haircut? Even though he wasn't a pure-blooded Saiyan, the explanation made sense: their hair does not change once they are fully grown. This answer given after Bulma arrived bearing Battle Armor, supposedly similar to old battle armor that Vegeta possessed, and asked why Trunks' hair had grown but not Vegeta's. All five Saiyans changed into the Battle Armor, and Yugi found it quite strange, although he had never worn such armor before, it felt extremely comfortable, like he had some past experience in it.

Vegeta and Trunks left, after which Goku requested a meal, which was promptly devoured by him and Gohan, all twenty or so dishes of it. Those two then entered the Time Chamber. As that day went on, things got hopeful for a bit as Yugi could sense Vegeta dominating Cell. However, Piccolo was worried, as was the Pharaoh, both of whom could sense that Vegeta's arrogance and pride would be his downfall. Soon, they could sense the energy of Trunks flaring up. The Pharaoh immediately assumed that Cell must have somehow bypassed Vegeta, and considering it was in no way due to his strength, he must have talked Vegeta into letting him absorb Android 18, the second one he required.

Soon the unthinkable happened. There was a colossal energy spike from Cell. Yugi and the Pharaoh immediately knew what happened: Android 18 had been absorbed. As the day passed, Vegeta fell, as did Trunks even though he had summoned enough energy to eclipse Cell. After a while, Piccolo informed everyone that Cell planned to host a fighting tournament and, considering Trunks' surprising defeat, he made plans to go into the Time Chamber after Goku and Gohan with Yugi, as, like it or not, that child needed to become an Ascended Super Saiyan as well. The next day, Gohan and Goku exited the Time Chamber and enjoyed another particularly large meal made by Mr. Popo, who also invited Yugi to partake as he was going to go into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber next. Yugi, unlike Goku and Gohan, tried to go easy on the food, but as much as he didn't want to admit it, he, like them, had a very large appetite and had to eat as much as possible.

After the meal and a handover of a note from Goku, who knew of his Namekian friend's intentions, Piccolo and Yugi went inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. At first, Yugi was almost overcome by the gravity, but spent the day trying to adapt, and by its end, he seemed to be standing fine. The training began immediately, Piccolo was sparring with Yugi, and as the days went by he was issuing new instructions to him via the list handed over by Goku, one of which involved trying to maintain the Super Saiyan form for a whole day. Eventually, after what seemed like two or three months of constant training, Yugi not only became an Ascended Saiyan, but could push the transformation even further, heavily bulking his muscles. However, as soon as he accessed the transformation for the first time, the Pharaoh spotted a weakness: the bulked-up form heavily damaged the speed of the user. Piccolo also spotted this weakness, and per the instructions on Goku's list, proceeded to try and teach Yugi ways of overcoming this weakness. Upon request, Piccolo revealed to Yugi that Goku drew up the list based on how he and Gohan had trained, knowing that he would need to go through the same training.

As the days marched on, Piccolo wondered how Yugi would cope with the extreme environments in the Chamber, and when the result did come, he was truly amazed at his charge's willpower. Be it scorching hot with huge wildfires or bone-chilling with huge amounts of ice forming, Yugi always refused to give up. He would stand there, and try his best to not only survive, but improve. There were also times when Yugi's persistence in training resulted in him collapsing in the training area and being quickly healed by Piccolo's intervention, which always seemed to result in massive power increases after each recovery.

When the time came to leave, Yugi had just hoped that he had done well enough. Piccolo admitted that he actually liked training with him, as although at heart he was still gentle and good-natured, he knew what was on the line and what had to be done. He had also made a very good sparring partner for Piccolo. Yugi had learned to maintain his Super Saiyan transformation and, like his mentor for that time, he had gotten much stronger. When they opened the door that would take them back to the lookout, they were met with a dumbstruck Vegeta. "How… how can that brat be a Super Saiyan?" he questioned.

"It's rather simple Vegeta, this child is also a Saiyan, like Gohan, like Trunks, like Goku, like you," Piccolo responded.

"How? How can such a little insignificant child be a Saiyan in the first place?"

"I am surprised at your inability to come to terms with this fact Vegeta. He has the tail, so he either is another Saiyan who survived the destruction of Planet Vegeta, or has at least one Saiyan parent."

"But who? Kakarot and I are the only pure-blooded Saiyans alive. This kid clearly has no relation to Kakarot, and I definitely do not recall fathering such a child as this! Also, the only Saiyan child sent to this rock was Kakarot, and this runt was clearly born after the planet's destruction!"

"Maybe someone else survived."

"But who? Boy, who are your parents?" Vegeta boomed at Yugi.

"That's what _I'd_ like to know," Yugi spoke.

"We're wasting time here Vegeta," Piccolo interrupted. "If you are going to use the Hyperbolic Time Chamber again you need to go in now."

Taking these words to heart, Vegeta shoved the two of them out of the way and entered the Chamber. Yugi, still a bit unsure of how much time had passed as it had felt like a whole year, asked Mr. Popo how long he was in there, and it turned out it was only for a day. Saying farewell to Piccolo for the moment, he left the Lookout, and after sensing where Gohan's energy was, flew straight to him. After a while of flying, Yugi landed at Goku's house, meeting Super Saiyan Goku and his son there and proceeding to just relax with them.

Yugi was also there to celebrate Gohan's eleventh birthday, his present being a pack of Duel Monsters cards from his Game shop, which Gohan really liked. Yugi also was quite amused when Gohan accidentally blew the birthday cake all over him with a single breath of air meant to put out the candles, asking jokingly if that meant he could have it all

As the days counted down to the start of the Cell Games, the fighting tournament held by Cell, Yugi got to meet the Namekian Dende, and he also trained with Gohan and Goku, everyone being in their Super Saiyan forms the whole time, with him even learning the Kamehameha wave. As the morning of the Cell Games came, he awoke on Kami's Lookout, where he had spent the last three days that were not spent training. Goku appeared, and after a few words involving the created Dragon Balls not being able to restore people back to life who have already died and a few assurances that nobody would die, he, Yugi, Gohan, Trunks and Piccolo all flew towards the Cell Games, the tournament that would decide the fate of the world.

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><p><strong><span>End note number 1:<span>** I'm probably going to update this story again later in the month, as it contains one event I kinda looked forward to writing, and if I am excited about that, what right have I to keep you waiting? Besides, I would prefer to get to the good bits as soon as possible and there's still a lot of ground to cover. Like I said though, it will probably be near the end of the month.

**End note number 2:** I had an idea to try and add a bit of humor in one scene, specifically the birthday cake scene, but the scene was deleted from the final draft in the end because, were I to insert it, I would probably have needed to upgrade the rating of the whole story and doing so just for one tiny little scene isn't worth it in my opinion.


	9. Chapter 8: King of Games: part 1

**Author's note:** Here is the update I promised, and I promise there will be some action in this chapter. I hope you enjoy.

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><p><span>Chapter 8<span>: King of Games graces the Cell Games part 1

As the five of them flew, they ran into Yamcha and Tien, both of whom joined them. The Cell Games arena came into view, and Yugi could see what was presumably Cell, a camera crew and the World Martial Arts Champion Hercule. Yugi only recognized him as such because of an announcement relayed by Bulma, and thought he must have been very powerful to volunteer to take on Cell. Looking at him now, words could not describe how let down Yugi was. The man possessed _no_ power. The seven of them landed near the arena, and Yugi got to meet Android 16 for the first time.

Fortunately for Yugi, staying in his Super Saiyan form probably stopped anyone from identifying him as the King of Games. He caught the cameraman getting a shot of him, but thankfully there was no rush to tell the reporter on the scene that there was a celebrity among the strangers. Yugi didn't know what to feel with regard to Hercule's constant boasts that he would bring Cell down: he was worried that Cell might kill him, but at the same time, found his flamboyance quite amusing to the point he had to stop himself from laughing several times. At a later point, this became anger, as the reporter ridiculed and insulted Goku for recommending that Hercule not fight. He would have probably destroyed the camera had the Pharaoh not calmed him down, telling him that it was alright for them to live in ignorance; the important part was that they live at all.

A loud female voice spoke a few minutes afterward, and then a helicopter appeared. Yugi didn't recognize anyone who jumped from it: there was one man with a bouquet of roses, whom he thought had selected this location for a date or something, then a huge muscled man with a mask and without any hint of power whatsoever, and lastly, a woman with a microphone, presumably the girlfriend of the man with the flowers. But apparently, the men were both fighters who claimed they would defeat Cell while the woman was their manager. "I sincerely hope that is their idea of a joke, they don't stand a chance," the Pharaoh spoke inside Yugi's head upon hearing this. Yugi couldn't agree more, especially after seeing the fighting techniques used by these people. The man with the flowers jumped into the air and got thrown higher by a simple burst of energy to land outside the ring. The man who could only be described as a blob charged at Cell only to be flicked away by another burst of energy. Then went Hercule, and it came as no surprise when Cell just took all the attacks without even flinching, and knocked his challenger into a nearby mountain.

Yugi's attention was only caught when Goku stepped into the ring. Yugi found he could keep up with the two fighters, but after their apparent warm-up, powers flared and he was amazed, he didn't know Goku had become so powerful. As the match went on, Yugi was just barely able to follow Goku and Cell, even losing them when things got even more intense. After Goku almost got disqualified due to almost falling out of the ring, Cell destroyed the arena, announcing that the whole area was the battleground, and that the survivor would be the victor. After another point, Yugi could see Goku charging a Kamehameha. He, the Pharaoh and, from the sounds of it, the other Z fighters were shocked; his firing position in relation to Cell's location indicated that maybe Goku was willing to blow up the Earth. The bigger surprise came when he suddenly teleported right in front of Cell and fired his Kamehameha at point blank range.

After that moment, Yugi became distracted. He had started sensing an unfamiliar power level for a brief moment, but as soon as he could begin to get an idea of where it was coming from, it vanished. He then looked at Cell, who was missing his upper half. Yugi's heart soared at the sight, thinking it was finally over, but the Pharaoh told him that something wasn't right. Indeed, a few minutes later, the half of Cell that was on the ground grew a new upper half, apparently thanks to the cells of Piccolo. The fight between Goku and Cell then resumed, and although both were losing energy, Yugi could sense that Goku was in more trouble than his opponent.

Goku eventually said something, and it shocked both Yugi and the Pharaoh to the very core: he was giving up the fight. Cell threatened he would destroy the planet if Goku was truly surrendering, but was surprised when he heard that there was one more person he had to fight. The person was revealed to be Gohan, but Yugi just couldn't get his head around this: why him? After a few words of reassurance to Gohan from his father, he descended to the desert floor from the cliff to fight. Yugi felt he couldn't just let this continue. The last straw came when Goku took a Senzu Bean and threw it towards Cell. As soon as the bean left his hand, Yugi attempted to intercept it, but it landed in Cell's hands as the King of Games appeared directly in between him and Goku.

As Cell swallowed the bean, his power level rocketed back to its original state. Then Gohan powered up, and his power level seemed to be equal to or greater than Goku's. Yugi saw him hold his own for a bit with Cell, but grew concerned as he started getting pummeled into the ground. It only got worse, and after a couple more attacks against him, Gohan was beaten into the ground. Yugi began to get worried, but the Pharaoh silenced him, saying that if Goku had that much faith in Gohan, then it was a sure bet that the latter would pull through, as both of them knew what they were doing. Goku was also telling everyone to calm down, and after a while, they began to sense Gohan's energy after losing it for a minute, and it was still relatively the same as before even after all the punishment.

From where he was, Yugi could just barely hear a conversation that Gohan began having with Cell. He could hear something about a hidden power inside his friend. Yugi could vaguely remember what Gohan was telling Cell about; the arrival of Raditz. Yugi hadn't been there, but it was around the time he first met Gohan. At the time, he was seven years of age, and he had first taken an interest in Duel Monsters and solving the Millennium Puzzle. Goku and Gohan came to the Kame Game shop looking to purchase something, and that was when Yugi first met them and became friends with the latter. Supposedly after that visit was when Gohan encountered Raditz at Kame House. As Gohan continued telling the story of his hidden power, Yugi, only just getting bits and pieces, was quite amazed that, from the sounds of it, his friend had managed to single-handedly flatten Frieza, the tyrannical overlord who could destroy entire planets.

However, after Gohan was finished talking, Cell said a few words and proceeded to resume the fight, brutalizing him. Eventually, Gohan retaliated, but this only seemed to encourage his opponent, leading to him getting restrained in a bear-hug. After hearing his best friend cry out in pain, Yugi could think of nothing else to do but interfere. He was NOT going to let the one he was closest to aside from the Pharaoh die like this, so he powered up and started heading straight for Cell, but all of a sudden Goku appeared in front of him and elbowed him in the face, sending him flying back to the Z fighters, and reappeared by him telling him to not interfere, Cell will force Gohan's power out and get beaten afterwards. Piccolo began speaking out, saying Yugi had the right idea of going to help Gohan, he wasn't a warrior like his father. It didn't matter if Gohan was the strongest warrior on the planet; his mind was not on any thoughts of battle or competition, but on why his own father was making him suffer. This broke through to Goku, who asked for a Senzu Bean.

Before anything could be done, Cell appeared right by everyone and snatched the bag of beans out of Krillin's hands. Yugi saw Gohan on the ground, with Cell returning to tower over him. However, before he could do anything, Android 16 grabbed him in another bear-hug, announcing that he will self destruct. Yugi immediately took cover, but nothing happened. The only explosion came as Cell blasted the other Android to pieces. One organ on his back opened up after that, and then something burst out. "One," Cell stated. More strange beings kept emerging as he counted "Two, three, four, five, six, seven." Then he spotted Yugi, spawning another creature and saying "Oh yes, eight; one exclusively for the King of Games. Let's see if he can retain the title."

The creatures looked up at all of the Z fighters. They looked to Yugi like Cell in miniature, except their skin was blue instead of green. Cell ordered the creatures, the Cell Juniors, to attack, and Yugi powered up and prepared for battle, as did everyone else including Trunks and Vegeta, both of whom went Super Saiyan. As his Cell Junior closed in, it attacked Yugi. In his Super Saiyan form, Yugi was able to hold out for a bit against the monster, but then Cell's voice could be heard instructing all of his spawn that playtime was over. The Cell Juniors had apparently taken this to heart as Yugi found himself facing a much more difficult fight. After a while, he could see that everyone else, save for Vegeta and Trunks, had fallen.

Yugi held out for as long as he could, but was eventually thrown down just like the rest of them. At one point, however, he could suddenly hear Gohan yelling, and a very sharp power increase followed, sending shock waves throughout the ground Yugi was lying on. Both he and the Pharaoh were amazed; this was the first time that either of them sensed such a strong power coming from Gohan, and it seemed to possibly rival, maybe even surpass the might of the three Egyptian Gods themselves.


	10. Chapter 9: King of Games: part 2

Chapter 9**:** King of Games graces the Cell Games part 2: Gohan Unleashed

Yugi could feel the tremors caused by the sudden burst of power from Gohan. The power was steadily growing, yet somehow, it felt like there was a bit more that could come out.

"Is that it?" the Pharaoh asked inside Yugi's mind.

"I'm not sure," Yugi responded, and got back to his feet. His Cell Junior was also distracted by Gohan's power release, but soon went back to attacking Yugi. He tried to hold out for a bit longer, but continued getting battered.

"Stop it!" Yugi could hear Gohan saying. "That's enough! Tell them to STOP IT!" It didn't sound like it was working though, because there was no word from Cell telling his offspring to comply. Instead, they just kept attacking, and Yugi was beaten to a point where he could fight no longer. He could still retain his Super Saiyan form, but couldn't summon the strength to fight back, and the Cell Junior kept kicking him as he lay down. An energy blast suddenly came out of nowhere and hit the miniature monster, but as soon as Yugi tried to get a glimpse of which Z fighter came to his aid, a gust of wind blew into his face, and he could sense another power increase from Gohan that stopped everyone in their tracks.

As the winds started to subside, Yugi could sense a massive power emanating from Gohan. After a minute or so, he suddenly saw him appear in front of the Cell Junior with the bag of Senzu Beans in his one hand. Yugi could see the monster lunge at Gohan, but it got beheaded by one blow from his hand and exploded shortly afterwards. Yugi then saw Gohan vanish and reappear by Krillin, who was being assailed by two Cell Juniors. He still didn't know how his friend got so strong, he could see him strike enough fear in one Cell Junior to cause it to flee, and decapitate the other with just one kick. From where he was, Yugi could see Gohan effortlessly defend himself against five simultaneous attacks from Cell Juniors, killing a third one. Soon, they seemed to be getting desperate, as they started using potent energy attack such as the Kamehameha and a few others which Yugi didn't recognize. Gohan returned fire and then killed Cell Juniors four through eight effortlessly.

Yugi then saw Gohan hand the bag of Senzu Beans to Trunks, who then flew towards him and slid one bean into his mouth, which he immediately chewed and swallowed. It was the first time he had eaten a Senzu Bean, and he had to admit he was amazed with the effects after experiencing those healing powers first hand, and he also felt himself getting stronger as he recovered. He stayed with Trunks as he went to heal Krillin and the others.

After he powered down from Super Saiyan, Yugi could see that the Cell Games were getting intense. Cell's attacks were ferocious, but Gohan made dodging them look like it was easy. Even when the attacks came close to or endangered the "World Champion's" group, Gohan still managed to save them. The battle raged on, but still Cell couldn't lay one finger on his opponent. Even after he powered up to his full strength, releasing a strong wind and causing the whole Earth to shake in the process, it still wasn't enough. Yugi couldn't believe it, the monster's power was colossal, and yet Gohan could still stand up to him with no problems. Even when he took a full fist to the face, it didn't seem to do any damage, and his retaliation was even more amazing in that it took only two punches to heavily damage Cell.

Although he recovered, the monster wasn't having much luck at all. His next assault on Gohan was blocked again and again. Even when he used what were identified as Krillin's Destructo Disk, Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon and a rapid fire technique, Gohan continued to successfully defend himself, not even taking a scratch. From what Yugi could see, Cell then decided to go for broke and destroy the entire planet with a Kamehameha, but even that was foiled by Gohan and the result seemed to earn a satisfied smirk from him: Cell was missing one arm, his wings, some of his head, and only kept half a leg.

"Amazing isn't it?" the Pharaoh suddenly asked.

"Yeah, I didn't know Gohan was so powerful. I wonder how he got that strong," Yugi responded.

"I do too, but there is something about this I don't like."

"What is it Pharaoh?"

"Think of all the times when someone has been pushed to the edge and came close to losing a game of Duel Monsters…"

"Yeah, it's happened to us quite a few times. I still remember the times it happened in Duelist Kingdom, Battle City and Noah's virtual world."

"Indeed. Now look at what's happening right now. Gohan is in control of the fight now, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Why? Gohan knows he has to destroy Cell in order to save the world!"

They were cut short when Cell powered up even further, bulking up his muscles. They had been so caught up in their own conversation that they forgot that Gohan had given Cell enough time to regenerate the limbs that were lost when the former parried the latter's Kamehameha wave with his own and sent it back to the sky at the monster. He was now dodging the bulked up Cell with little difficulty and eventually attacking him in such a way that he looked about to vomit afterwards.

After a while, something did come out of his mouth, and it was a very strange something: a blonde white-skinned woman, who Tien identified as Android 18. A few minutes later, Cell seemed to be deforming, his looks changing to something more unnatural.

"This is Gohan's chance, he must finish Cell now!" the Pharaoh suddenly spoke.

"I agree Pharaoh, but I don't think it matters. From what I can sense, _we_ can finish Cell right now if we choose," Yugi responded to this.

"Don't be so sure Yugi. Just because Cell has been weakened doesn't mean he might not still have a trump card."

"You mean he could intentionally be hiding his power like Gohan did?"

"No, I could sense that Cell was fighting at his full power, and unless I am wrong, we both noticed that as soon as he regurgitated that woman, his power dropped heavily. The secret must lie somewhere."

"Wait, like a Special ability, or some other Magic or Trap?"

"Indeed Yugi. This can be compared with Duel Monsters in that a monster might be more powerful than another monster, but the weaker one might have a special ability that would allow it to gain an advantage, or a face-down Magic or Trap card on its side of the field to further alter the odds in its favor."

"Okay, but what is that face-down Cell has in his corner?"

"So long as Gohan doesn't give him a chance to use it, it won't matter, but I do not like where this is going right now."

"Now that I think about it, you're right. Gohan is giving Cell ample opportunity to take action."

Cell was occasionally charging Gohan, but kept getting beaten back into the ground. At a later point though, he expanded, and energy started emanating from him again. He said he was going to self-destruct and blow up the planet, and any attempts to stop him would result in a premature detonation! "I knew it!" the Pharaoh exclaimed. Goku then, for some reason, said goodbye to everyone and placed his fingers on his forehead.

"Goku what are you doing?" Yugi shouted, hoping that Goku wasn't going to do what he thought he was going to do.

"Sorry Yugi, it's the only way. Please do me a favor: don't stop training your Super Saiyan form!" Goku responded, and with that, he vanished.

Yugi spotted Goku again right by Cell, with his one free hand on the monster's bloated body, and after a minute or so, both vanished. Gohan was clearly upset, wishing he had not given Cell the opportunity to self-destruct, and repeatedly calling for his father to come back.

All of a sudden, the wind picked up heavily, and an evil presence could be felt. Yugi, immediately sensing danger, took to the sky, and it was very lucky that he had done so, as a beam shot through the cloud of dust, through where he would have been, and continued on to pierce Trunks. The smoke cleared, and there was Cell, in the form that he had taken before he lost his power, but somehow he had gained a lot more power than before. He then proceeded to tell the story of how one cell survived his self-destruction, how his new body grew from it, how he had gained so much power without the need for Android 18 and how he knew now what Dr. Gero, his creator, meant by him being the Ultimate Android.

Vegeta then proceeded to attack with a flurry of very strong energy blasts. Yugi and the Pharaoh knew that this attack was not due to the fact that he thought he'd have a worthy adversary, it was an attack out of rage, specifically the rage produced as a result of losing his son. Alas, it had little effect, as Cell proceeded to retaliate with a powerful energy attack that would have surely ended his life had Gohan not intervened and taken the blast, which unfortunately cost him his left arm.

Cell then proceeded to charge a Kamehameha, stating boldly that he would live forever. Yugi noticed that Gohan wasn't making any move to stop him until a while later, powering up then and seemingly readying a Kamehameha of his own. They later launched their attacks at each other, and Yugi could just barely escape the blast after it collided and started rapidly expanding. He and the Pharaoh later observed how things were going from a safe distance. They could see Cell gain ground, but later they saw Gohan make a comeback and overtake his adversary, only to have him retake the upper hand.

Soon, Piccolo started flying towards Cell and attacked, but it didn't look like it had much of an effect, as he was blown backwards. Tien, Yamcha and then Krillin left after a while, asking Yugi to watch over 18 and Trunks. He was, however, finding it extremely difficult to comply. He couldn't let Gohan fight this monster on his own, and after it became apparent that Cell had the upper hand, knowing that those four had failed, Yugi powered up to Super Saiyan and flew towards the giant Kamehameha beam clash.

As soon as he got to Cell's side, Yugi assumed a spread-eagle position in mid-air and energy began charging in his hands and feet. This was one technique he invented while in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and while it took a bit of time to charge up, Yugi didn't really have many other options, and he was worried that three Kamehameha Waves might damage the planet further. A few minutes passed, but Cell either didn't notice or didn't care about his activities. Then it happened: Energy spheres appeared in Yugi's hands and at the top of his feet, and they all moved to converge on a point in front of him. "Millenium Star Blast!" he stated, after which the large energy sphere shot a beam forward that impacted Cell right in his back.

The attack did cause him to lurch a bit forward, but otherwise it didn't do much. "Didn't I tell you that you have no chance!" he roared, after which Yugi was blown back by his energy. Just as Cell was about to overpower Gohan, Yugi could see a large sphere of energy crash into him. This clearly managed to divert the monster's attention, and the King of Games knew at that moment what was about to happen and vacated the area. Gohan's Kamehameha then received a massive boost after which it swallowed up Cell, annihilating him, and got redirected to outer space.

Afterwards, all that remained was a large crater and Gohan, who was breathing heavily. He powered down from his Super Saiyan form and proceeded to fall to the ground. It finally happened: Cell was forever destroyed. Yugi couldn't help but land near Gohan with a smile on his face. As far as he was concerned, a time of celebration had come, even with all of the mess that needed cleaning up as a result of Cell's actions.

* * *

><p><strong><span>End note:<span>** Yeah, the Cell Games are now over, but that doesn't mean that the story is over. Not by a long shot. There is still one big mystery that needs solving, and also, who attacked Yugi's Cell Junior (aside from Gohan and Yugi)? Anyway, this next month, there is a chance that I will also give this story four updates, after all, I've got a lot of ground to cover and I want to get past the Orichalcos arc before December. If you want to see which stories I'll be updating each month, you need only check my profile.


	11. Chapter 10: A new adventure

Chapter 10: A new adventure

Gohan lay on the ground, exhausted, yet smiling. Yugi picked him up just as he passed out, and everyone, save Vegeta, decided to head for the Lookout. After a brief stopover at Korin Tower, just below the Lookout, Yugi with Gohan in his arms, Tien with Trunks in his, Krillin, holding Android 18, and Yamcha arrived at their destination, where Dende the Namekian and new Guardian of Earth was waiting along with Mr. Popo. The former quickly healed Gohan, who then told everyone how Goku helped him destroy Cell.

Android 18 was next to be healed, after which Yamcha promptly started panicking and overreacting, telling Dende to quickly get away. Yugi was quite surprised by this: why was he losing control? She only looked around in confusion and alarm, and the situation got even more amusing when Gohan revealed that Krillin had a crush on her. The only time things went downhill was when she told the latter that it wasn't that easy to win her affections and that she was wrong about him, after which she flew off.

A couple of minutes later, the seven Dragon balls were brought out, after which Dende began chanting: "Eternal Dragon, by your name I summon you forth: Shenron!" Suddenly, there was an explosion of light as a creature burst from the Balls, and as it continued to soar upwards into the sky, it took form as the long green Dragon. Yugi was amazed; the creature was almost as long as Slifer the Sky Dragon:

"Choose your words carefully as you speak! I will make two of your wishes true!" the dragon boomed. After hearing a few comments on how successful Dende was in making it grant two wishes instead of one, Yamcha then spoke: "Shenron! Please revive all those on Earth who were killed by Cell!"

"Your wish will be granted!" the Dragon roared, after which its red eyes emitted a bright red glow, and Trunks rose from the Lookout floor back at full strength. Things started to go downhill from there though, as they attempted to wish Goku back to life as everyone on the lookout wanted it a lot. "How badly you want it makes no difference to me. Goku has been revived before and so it is impossible!" the Dragon responded to their wish.

Yugi then heard the rest of the Z fighters exchange ideas, silently agreeing with Piccolo that the first one, turning back time to before Goku died, was unwise, as Cell would also be alive. Then there was a suggestion to ask the Namekian Eternal Dragon.

"There's ANOTHER one?" Yugi burst out in response, awestruck.

"Yes Yugi. My people, the Namekians, were the original creators of the Dragon Balls," Piccolo responded. "Porunga is our Dragon, the original Dragon, and unlike Shenron he can revive a person as many times as he sees fit."

"So we all agree right, our second wish is to go to Namek?" Yamcha asked for confirmation.

"Hey, don't I get a say in this?" asked a voice Yugi never thought he'd hear for a while. It was Goku, and after Gohan told everyone that he _was_ there, he then proceeded to tell everyone why he didn't want to be wished back to life. He noted that many of the villains who attacked the Earth were after him, like Frieza, Cell and the Androids, but was countered by Yugi saying that just because someone attacks the planet doesn't automatically mean that he is the target, naming Pegasus and Marik as examples. "There's a slight difference there Yugi," Goku responded to this. "While those people did have truly sinister motives, neither of them possessed the power to destroy the planet. Frieza, on the other hand, has destroyed my home planet, Vegeta, which is ironically partially your home too, and Cell was much stronger."

Goku then continued to explain that as a Saiyan baby he was sent to Earth to destroy it (something which puzzled Yugi and the Pharaoh as he definitely didn't seem the type to do so) and although he has tried not to all his life, it had been feeling like he was fulfilling that mission, and as a preventative measure, he was going to stay in the other world. Although he really appreciated everyone's feelings towards him, they would have to find something else to wish for, and he also stated that he had nothing left to teach Gohan as he was so strong, adding jokingly that a second King of Games was in town.

"You all had better take notes of everything that happens in your life, because when they're through, I wanna hear all about them," he continued. "Especially you Pharaoh, I want to hear what your past life was like after you get your memory back, until then, bye."

Amid all the conversation that followed about Goku's departure, Yugi couldn't help but recollect on his own memories of him, his first meeting, his training but what stuck out the most was during Duelist Kingdom, where Goku supported him throughout the hardships he faced and took time to explain to Yugi about his Super Saiyan form.

"Excuse me," boomed the voice of Shenron, reminding everyone that they still had one more wish for him to grant. Yamcha then made a suggestion about being rich, but was drowned out by the chant of "Yugioh!" that signified the switch from Yugi to the Pharaoh. "I'm sorry Yamcha, but I must try this," he spoke. "Shenron, I wish for my memory of my ancient past to be restored!"

"Your wish cannot be granted. I know not why, but it is beyond my power!" roared the green Dragon.

"Can you change Androids 17 and 18 into humans?" Krillin asked.

"That is also beyond my power. It cannot be done!"

"Can you take the explosive devices inside the Androids out?"

"This wish… can be granted, but is this your second wish?"

"Yes. I wish to remove the self-destruct devices inside the Androids."

Shenron's eyes glowed bright red once again. "It is done." He then vanished, after which the Dragon Balls rose into the air and shot apart in seven different directions, heading back down to Earth. After another appearance by Android 18, thanking Krillin for his wish but reminding him that it will take a lot more to win her affection, interrogating the Pharaoh about what exactly he meant by 'his ancient past' and leaving afterwards, everyone else made plans to depart as well, with Piccolo staying with Dende, Tien going to train somewhere and Yamcha also making plans. Everyone left the Lookout save for the Namekians.

Yugi was there to try and calm down Gohan's mother when she heard the news, and the next day, he was there to say goodbye to Trunks as he prepared to return to his own timeline to face the Androids there. There was still one more day to spend with Gohan before Yugi would need to return to Domino city, so he accompanied him and his large grandfather as they went for a stroll in the wilds of Mount Paozu. Among other things, they caught fish the size that Yugi couldn't believe, defended their newfound food from a large pterodactyl and spent some time with Gohan's dragon friend Icarus.

Eventually, Yugi talked Gohan into seeing what modifications he could make to his Duel Monsters Deck with the cards he had received for his birthday, and afterwards got him to engage in a friendly Duel with his best friend. Although Gohan managed to get all three of his Totems out early, and his **Galick Gun** on the first turn, he wasn't summoning much else, so his Totems only got an attack, defense and healing power of 2000, maybe 2500, and his magic's power was also very low. Gohan eventually caught the hint and brought out **Delta the Magnet Warrior** (1200/1900) and **Omega the Magnet Warrior **(2000/1000), two of his birthday presents from Yugi. Although the new monsters were strong, Yugi won the match in the end.

Eventually, he brought up the subject of who had helped him in the Cell Games, as it had been bugging him for a while: if the person wanted to save Yugi, why didn't he stay? Gohan thought that the mystery fighter might have been Chiaotzu, Tien's friend, since although he isn't that strong, he'd still want to help out, but would have had to hide to make sure he didn't worry Tien. While this seemed to reassure Yugi, he was sure that it was someone else, but without any idea of who else it could have been, he was forced to settle with Chiaotzu for now.

The next day, Yugi packed what belongings he had brought and, wishing Gohan, Chi-Chi and the Ox-king well, he left for Domino City. It was about time that he returned to his grandfather and other friends, after all, he had spent quite a long time away from them and with the chaos of the Cell Games, they had to be worried. As the wind blew through his hair and brushed against his Saiyan tail (which he wasn't planning on concealing until he got back home, after all, it was uncomfortable and a little painful), he also thought of what the Pharaoh needed to do, and it looked like the Stone Tablet was indeed the only way to restore his lost memory.

The landing back at Domino City was full of surprises. Yugi's grandfather had been watching the Cell Games, and he could swear he saw his grandson there, and he also told him that the world was celebrating the World Martial Arts Champion Hercule's victory over the monster, made all the more convincing by the revival of everyone Cell killed. Yugi's anger was quickly mounting at this; if anyone deserved praise for saving the world, it was Gohan, and this _NOBODY_ was stealing all the credit. However, he was relieved when Joey, Tea and Tristan informed him that, after what they've seen and experienced, there's no way that they believe the official story.

That was when Yugi told them all what _really_ happened with the Cell Games, and they took it well, knowing that his version was actually much more believable considering that Cell earlier destroyed the majority of the military before the Games, and the known number of people who could also possibly do that did not involve the glory hound stealing Gohan's credit for the kill. He also told them about Goku's passing and everything else leading up to the Cell Games and, needless to say, they were quite amazed.

It was about two days later that Yugi, upon the Pharaoh's insistence, walked out of school and towards the museum. Just as he arrived, he was found by Joey, Tea and Tristan.

"What's going on Yug? It ain't like ya to be running off from school with your tail between your legs," Joey asked.

"Joey!" Tea shouted, shocked at his insensitivity.

"Oh right, sorry Yug. I forgot you had a tail."

"Joey, it is not about that!"

"Then what is it Tea?"

"You just called him a coward, something he is not and need I remind you… his tail is not actually between his legs at the moment! It's where it usually is!"

After a bit more bickering, the three of them told Yugi, who had let the Pharaoh take control by that point, that whatever happened, they would be there by his side, and with that, they all entered the museum. As soon as they got to the Stone Tablet featuring the carvings of the Millennium Puzzle, the Pharaoh held up the three Egyptian God Cards facing the carvings. The eye on the Millennium Puzzle carving started glowing…


	12. Chapter 11: Monster Issues

Chapter 11: Monster issues

Something struck the God cards at that point, and the Tablet started crystallizing. When it was over, the tablet was frozen in ice and the God cards were not reacting to anything, it felt like their power had been drained. What was more, there were more noises outside. Upon investigation, there were groups upon groups of Duel Monsters in the city, be they roaming the streets or occupying the skyline, from fairies to dragons. Gohan soon landed along with a purple dragon.

"Oh great, Gohan's got a monster by him!" Joey shouted.

"Hey, that's mean!" Gohan retaliated. "You're not a monster, are you Icarus?"

"What! Why'd you name him? He's only just appeared now!"

"That's not true; Icarus and I have been friends for years since I was a boy in fact!"

Joey further panicked when Yugi, who had retaken control, walked up and petted the purring dragon. "So, what brings you here Gohan?" he asked.

"Nothing much, just wanted to stop by for a bit. Little break from studying. I have to say though; I wasn't expecting such a huge welcome."

"You mean the monsters. They appeared just now, but we don't know why."

"Well, from the looks of it, they're not really aggressive, so I don't think there's a need for us to fight them. How about we just go to your home?"

"Good idea actually. I was thinking of questioning Kaiba but the press is probably swarming at KaibaCorp like locusts by this point."

"Don't tell me… I know he likes screwing the rules but that's a bit much!"

"I never said Kaiba's responsible for these events; I just said that the place will be blockaded like mad so we won't get in.

"Can't we just fly in through a window? Oh well, guess we can just watch him on TV then."

As soon as they reached the Game Shop, they turned on the television to find Kaiba denying all involvement. Yugi knew that the billionaire was right, but he himself had one other thing on his mind, although it didn't really matter at this stage due to what was happening: the issue of his mother's absence was starting to bug him again. All that he really knew about that was what his grandfather told him: that she needed to leave very early in his life. As much as Yugi searched through what memories of his infancy he could recall, there was nothing. Solomon didn't tell him _why_ she had to leave, so he had no idea what could be so important to her so as to overrule the need to take care of her family.

Yugi was so caught up in this that it took a slap on the back to break him out of it. Apparently, Solomon took his God cards for safekeeping, and was in the shop area of their residence, the group agreed that Kaiba wasn't responsible for the monster sightings and were getting a bit concerned about the silent treatment. Yugi, too, was wondering what caused him to lose focus like that when suddenly Solomon screamed. When Yugi asked if he was alright after finding him, he announced that the Egyptian God cards were stolen.

The thieves hadn't gotten far, in fact, they were right outside the Game Shop, and Yugi demanded the return of the God Cards. There were four men total, three on motorcycles with the fourth one wearing a cloak, and they just laughed. The cloaked man even put his hands to his face, spreading his fingers as far as they could possibly go. Gohan knew what this meant, but before he could warn the rest, the man shouted "Solar Flare!" after which they were all blinded by a bright flash of light. All they could hear was motorcycles speeding into the distance, and as soon as they were able to open their eyes again, they could see the thieves were gone.

Later, Obelisk the Tormentor appeared at one point in the city, followed by the other two gods, and everyone flew there, Yugi carrying Tea while Gohan carried Joey and Tristan. After they arrived, a fifth man challenged Yugi to a Duel, claiming that he would seal away his soul. As the Duel progressed, Gohan saw the Seal of Orichalcos for the first time, and immediately he sensed something foul was up. He was pretty sure he'd sensed something like this before, but where? Eventually, Yugi won the Duel even though he had Obelisk used against him, but the strange man didn't hand back the card. Instead, he threw it to his accomplices. Gohan immediately tried attacking them, but was blinded by yet another Solar Flare from the cloaked figure. Another one of the thieves announced that, for Yugi being such a good sport, the souls of two people they took earlier would be released, but he would have to fight all of them for the God Cards. They left just as Yugi, Gohan, Tea, Joey and Tristan started opening their eyes. After confirming that the Duelist's soul had indeed been taken, and also taking the strange green stone he wore, they all returned home.

The next day was spent questioning the two children Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, and Gohan found their threats of trying to fight them quite amusing. They got round to telling the story of how they lost their souls after a while, after which they were told that the three Egyptian God cards were stolen and to look out for four suspicious bikers. As they walked down the street, discussing why weird things always happen to them, a girl appeared, eventually identified as Rebecca Hawkins due to Yugi's gift before Battle City. Rebecca informed him that her grandfather wanted to see him at the museum, and when they got there, they were greeted by Solomon Muto, Professor Arthur Hawkins and Bulma Briefs.

"What brings you here Bulma?" Yugi asked, surprised

"You know this woman Yug?" Joey asked.

"Not very well, but yeah, he's met me. Bulma Briefs, president of Capsule Corp," Bulma introduced herself. "Yugi and I only saw each other once or twice. I've known Gohan for a bit longer though. Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to have hit the books Gohan?"

"Mom allowed me a break from studying," Gohan answered. "How are things with you and Vegeta?"

"He does seem to have taken a bigger interest in his own son, but you know him, still intent on training."

"Oh well, I guess Vegeta will be Vegeta."

"If I may call your attention to something else…" the Professor cut in, "We believe these monster sightings may have something to do with you Yugi."

Professor Hawkins then went on to explain how Yugi shared a common bond with the Pharaoh (to which Gohan added that he had been sensing two power levels inside Yugi since he solved the Millennium Puzzle), and how this Pharaoh saved ancient Egypt from the darkness of the Shadow Games. But what was a revelation was the fact that he, with Bulma's help, managed to find the lost city of Atlantis and that, somehow, there were Duel Monsters carvings there as well, at least twice as old as their Egyptian counterparts.

Gohan slept over at Yugi's place, and he noticed that his friend was having trouble sleeping, probably due to the quantity or nature of the information that day. Later that night though, something weird happened: there was a strange phenomenon of light in the sky. After the two of them woke up and met up with everyone else, Yugi found a large green crystal in the sky.

It soon broke to reveal a sinister yellow eye, and as soon as Yugi saw this, he got into a stance. "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…HA!" he shouted, thrusting his cupped hands forward, shooting a large beam of energy towards the eye, which retaliated by shooting a tornado from its iris. The attacks crashed into each other and continued to struggle for dominance, neither budging an inch. Yugi's deck suddenly started glowing, and as soon as he saw this, he redirected the energy for his blast to emerge from his left hand (a trick that he learned from Gohan, who had apparently used it against Cell) and with his right, drew a card. It was a dragon, the same dragon that Yugi and the Pharaoh released in a dream not too long ago. Yugi immediately called for the dragon's assistance, shouting its name "Timaeus", after which it appeared and shot a breath of fire at the eye in the sky. A second tornado was launched at its attack, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect in stopping it, and Yugi had gone Super Saiyan and boosted the power of his Kamehameha. The two attacks hit the eye and destroyed it, after which the dragon vanished and Yugi powered down.

A Dark Magician Girl then appeared, warning Yugi, the Pharaoh and Gohan (who was close enough to his friend to hear what she was saying) that the battle was only just beginning and the force they were fighting retreated for the moment, but time was running out. Upon Gohan's request, Yugi informed him that they were fighting an evil known only as the Great Beast, which fed on the souls of humans and Duel Monsters alike.

The following morning, they received a package for Yugi from Pegasus. It was a videotape informing them of what more was at stake and telling him to guard the card enclosed with his life. The day afterwards, they packed their bags and went to the airport, where they were given VIP treatment and a private jet to their destination of Industrial Illusions headquarters. Things got a bit unpleasant later as, after they landed, they ended up at an abandoned petrol station in the middle of nowhere.

A large gang of bikers then surrounded them, cutting them off from the car they had used. Yugi and Gohan quickly moved Tea, Joey and Tristan out of the danger zone in a second, after which they proceeded to defeat the whole gang, destroy their motorcycles and escape in the car. Due to panicking when the petrol station exploded as a result of the battle, Tristan, who was driving, overheated the engine, and they were forced to use Tea to flag down a passing vehicle.

The vehicle they did manage to flag down turned out to have interesting contents: it was Krillin and Android 18, the latter of whom only let the former stop to see what would happen. After Yugi and the others emerged and explained themselves, all seven of them sped towards the city and Industrial Illusions headquarters, where they were greeted with a surprise: in the lobby was Mai Valentine.

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><p><strong><span>End note<span>**: I will probably give this story two more updates later this month. Like I said in a previous chapter, I have got a lot of ground to cover and there is one point I _really_ want to reach by December. You may have also noticed an increase of Dragonball Z characters in this part of the story. After finishing the Cell Games, it just felt... wrong... to suddenly exclude most of that universe from the story, after all, especially with a huge battle coming up, what reason do I have to exclude the fighters?


	13. Chapter 12: Deadly Beauty

**Author's note:** Sorry about the chapter name, couldn't really think of any others. It is inspired by the Dragonball Z episode of the same name. Also, please remember that any cards highlighted in **bold** are not actual Yugioh cards.

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><p><span>Chapter 12:<span> Deadly Beauty

Mai stood there while the doors locked behind Yugi. She immediately challenged Joey to a Duel, after which the large cloaked figure from a few nights ago jumped out and challenged Gohan. For some reason, the Duel Disks registered the Duel as a Tag Team Duel, but after some hesitation, both Joey and Gohan activated their own Duel Disks. By that point, Mai and the cloaked figure had activated their own "The Seal of Orichalcos" magic cards with the former summoning a Harpy Lady (1300+500/1400) and the latter summoning a Gladiator Beast Bestiari (1500+500/800). Gohan went after the cloaked figure and immediately played **Galick Gun**, **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing** and another new card that he had received from Yugi on his birthday: the continuous spell card **Life Transfer**. Joey then played Alligator's Sword (1500/1200) in Defense mode, bringing Gohan's weapon to 750 points.

In the turns to follow, Mai exposed more of her past after Battle City, with Android 18 scoffing every time she mentioned power or the need thereof. She summoned a second Harpy and attacked Joey's monster, destroying it, and with her other Harpy, she brought him down to 2200 Life points. The cloaked figure then took his turn, playing Shield and Sword to swap ATK and DEF points of all monsters, summoning Gladiator Beast Darius (1700+500/300), playing Hidden Passage, attacking directly due to its effect to get Gohan down to 1800 LP and ending his turn. Gohan played his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Defense** after he gained 2500 Life Points for a total of 4300. This now gave the Totem 3000 Defense points, after which he set a card and ended his turn. Joey summoned Rocket Warrior (1500/1300) in Defense mode, increasing the **Galick Gun** to 1500 points, after which he also set a card. Mai, on her next turn, set a card and destroyed Joey's monster. Her second attack was countered by Joey's Scapegoat magic card, but that in turn was countered by Nightmare Tri-mirror, giving her four more Harpies. Upon the cloaked figure's next turn, Gohan demanded to know who he was, so, tired of continually using the disguise, he removed the cloak to reveal a tall, bald, heavily muscled man… with a brown tail.

"Nappa?" Gohan asked.

"Yes kid, it is I, general of the Saiyan Army and five-time patty cake champion!" Nappa roared. "I now summon Gladiator Beast Equeste (1600+500/1200) in Attack mode and place a card face-down!"

"How did you survive Vegeta's blast way back then? I saw you; there was no possible way you could have survived!"

"Well, kid, the second before the attack hit, this interesting character blocked the attack and took me away. He offered me my position as a general back, except I would be the general of an army much greater than the Saiyans!"

"So you want to conquer the world alongside these people?"

"It won't stop at the world. Under the banner of Master Dartz and the Great Leviathan, we shall strip Frieza's empire of the title 'Most feared in the universe' and bring him to his knees!"

The Seal of Orichalcos then started glowing, and all of a sudden, all four Duelists were hovering over a wasteland. Krillin was just barely alive, and Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo were on the ground, dead. A much younger Gohan was just barely able to stand, and Nappa stood towering over his small body.

"Goddammit Nappa, why do we have to watch this?" Mai asked with some impatience.

"I still remember back then, I would have crushed you like a bug had Kakarot not shown up. But now with him gone, I will easily crush you again. Now take your turn!" Nappa spoke, after which they were taken back to the lobby.

Gohan complied, after which he gained 7000 Life Points due to there being fourteen monsters in play for a total of 11300. He then played Graceful Charity, drawing three cards but discarding two, after which he used his **Life Transfer** card to give up 1300 of his Life Points and add them to Joey's instead, bringing him to 3500. He then summoned **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense** (X/0), which gained 7500 Attack points. Mai immediately started quivering. Gohan's next move was to activate Monster Reborn to bring back his **Twin Sister of Light** (1500/1500) in Defense mode which in turn Special Summoned his **Twin Sister of Darkness** in Defense mode (1500/1500) bringing the **Galick Gun** to 3000 points and his Totems to 8500, then he activated Pump Up, which doubled any monster's attack points for the duration of his move.

"Now Nappa, what is the strength of my Totems?" Gohan asked.

"It's... it's over nine THOUSAND!" Nappa responded, shocked. The strength of his Totems was 17000.

"Gohan, don't do this!" Joey pleaded.

"Relax Joey, I won't target Mai with this right now," he responded.

"But surely there's another way to do this. You don't want to lock away this Nappa guy, do you?"

"Actually I do Joey. If we allow him to remain free, he will just collect more souls. Nappa was evil from the very start."

"But…"

"Trust me Joey, I knew him when I was five, and he hasn't changed a bit! Now, my Offense Totem attacks Gladiator Beast Darius!"

Bolts of Lightning shot from the tip of the Totem's swords, hitting the beast. Nappa immediately activated his set card **Lightning Aura**, doubling the monster's attack strength to 4400 and giving it Piercing effect, but it wasn't enough as he took 12600 points of damage, knocking him out of the match, after which a second Seal began to close in around him and suck out his soul. His monsters were also destroyed, leaving Gohan's totems with 8000 points. Joey took his turn and summoned Panther Warrior (2000/1600) upgrading the **Galick Gun** to 4000 and tributed a scapegoat to allow it to attack, but Mai activated her Face-down Harpy Lady Sparrow Formation.

Mai activated her Harpy Lady Phoenix Formation on her next turn, destroying Joey's Panther Warrior, two scapegoats and Gohan's Totems, dealing the former 2000 damage (1500) and the latter 8000 damage (2000). Gohan immediately played his face-down **Totem reconstruction**, bringing back his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing** before Mai ended her turn. Gohan collected 5500 Life Points when he began his turn (6500) and played a second **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense**. Immediately, he activated the Special Ability of the Totems, sacrificing them to summon **Greater Mystic Totem of the Vampire **(0/?), which gained 750 Attack points and 250 for each of her Harpies, amounting to 1500 for a total of 2250.

Gohan hung back for the rest of the Duel, just collecting Hunger counters on his Totem while Joey took things over, something which Android 18 didn't seem to get. He eventually brought out a new weapon: the Claw of Hermos and with that, he took control of the Duel. At one point though, one of the two other God card thieves jumped down and destroyed the Seal, after which everyone withdrew.

The Kaiba Brothers landed as the security lockdown got lifted. Soon they, along with Yugi, Gohan, Joey, Krillin, Tea, Android 18 and Tristan found Duke Devlin and followed him to one room that wouldn't open despite the lockdown being overridden. Yugi inserted the one card he received from Pegasus with the tape, and it turned out to be the right keycard needed. Inside the room, a hologram of Pegasus appeared and explained what was happening: apparently, someone bought Industrial Illusions, and according to the Kaiba Brothers was buying KaibaCorp as well, and was planning something truly sinister. To combat this, he created a card specifically for Yugi, but he would need to find it himself.

Eventually, he did find it but it turned out to be blank. After that, the subject of Duels with the Seal of Orichalcos was brought up. Kaiba eventually revealed that he had gained access to a third Dragon aside from Yugi's Timaeus and Joey's Hermos. Gohan came to the conclusion that acquisition of these was akin to acquisition of the Super Saiyan form: the power comes in response to a need, not a desire.

Later, they found that Professor Hawkins was kidnapped, and Yugi was challenged to a Duel in exchange for his freedom. At the time the Kaiba brothers had left, as had Krillin and Android 18, and only Tea, Joey, Tristan and Gohan stayed with Rebecca at her mobile home.

While there, Gohan was unable to sleep until the Professor, who had apparently been set free beforehand, returned home, and by that point it was very early morning. Only then did Gohan sleep, and he had a strange dream. In it, he was falling through the sky towards a castle. He stopped falling and started hovering when he found himself in front of three crystalline pedestals. Immediately, he sensed another power level, and soon, the Dark Magician Girl appeared in front of Gohan.

"You are Son Gohan?" she asked.

"Yes, why?" Gohan could only ask

"Yugi Muto spoke highly of you. When we told him of the danger that both our worlds face, he brought up the possibility of enlisting your help as well."

"I will do the best I can, but I will need some information as to what threat you are facing."

"You saved the world from the evil of the Cell Games that threatened to destroy it. We believe you can do the same for us."

Dark Magician Girl then went on to explain what was going on with the Great Leviathan devouring both the human world and the Dominion of the Beasts. She then proceeded to create sunlight that shone down on Gohan, and as his skin took in the light, he felt himself getting stronger. She explained that she has gifted him with extra strength to help in the upcoming battles.

"Thank you-" Gohan began, but was cut off when he started sensing something wrong.

"Oh no, it's happening!" the Dark Magician Girl gasped in terror. The dragon Timaeus appeared soon after.

"Is it this Leviathan?"

"No, the Pharaoh has betrayed Timaeus. You sensed it too, didn't you?"

"I did sense something dark and foul, but I do not know what it is."

"The Pharaoh played the Seal of Orichalcos, and in so doing betrayed Timaeus. He now seeks someone else to bond with. Gohan, would you please?"

"What do I need to do?"

"Reach out to him and call his name!"

Gohan did just that, and as soon as he did, he began to feel power surging through him. Just as it finished, he awoke. The first thing he found was that Tea and Rebecca were watching him; the rest of them had gone in search of Yugi. Gohan felt the need to draw a card, and it just happened to be the Eye of Timaeus: he knew right away that what he dreamed was real.

He immediately tried to sense where Yugi was, and as soon as he found which direction to go, he flew off, finding him a couple of minutes later. Gohan's fears were confirmed when he saw the Seal of Orichalcos, and that it was played by the Pharaoh. Some time later, the Duel was lost.

Behind a barrier created by the Seal of Orichalcos, Yugi's spirit could see the outcome of the Duel, and knew that the Pharaoh would lose his soul. "I can't watch anymore!" he said, feeling a growing need to act. "One of my best friends will lose his soul!" the Millennium Puzzle lit up. "…_**and I won't watch this anymore!**_" he shouted, whereupon he grabbed the Millennium Puzzle in his hands and, with both his own power and the power of the item, blasted a Kamehameha wave right through the Seal's barrier. The Seal closed in, and Yugi shoved the Pharaoh out of the way, claiming that _his_ soul will instead be taken.

As soon as the Seal left, the Duelist took Yugi's body and jumped on a rope ladder connected to a helicopter, dropping the body into the arms of Joey on demand. He soon woke up, but broke down on the spot. Joey immediately got excited, saying he knew Yugi would outsmart them, but got a response that they succeeded; Yugi's gone.

"But how can you be talking to us if he took your soul?" Joey asked, confused.

"Not mine! Yugi's!" the Pharaoh screamed, hitting the ground with his fists, his tail flaring up. "It's all my fault, it should have been me!" He continued screaming; shouting for Yugi to come back and that it wasn't fair. Just then, a massive ki blast could be seen in the sky near the horizon. A few minutes later, it fired, heading straight for them, and was closing in fast…


	14. Chapter 13: Runaway Train

**Author's**** note:** Sorry I took so long updating, just had a busy month last month. I should be updating the story quite frequently this month because as I've said before, there is one point I really want to reach before the end of the year. I hope you enjoy. Also, sorry about the chapter name, I couldn't really think of anything else.

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><p><span>Chapter 13:<span> Runaway Train

The ki blast got closer and closer. The Pharaoh, having lost Yugi, was in no position to guard against it, and Joey, Duke and Tristan were panicking. Just as it was a second away from impact, Gohan appeared in his Super Saiyan form and deflected it.

"Why the hell did you shoot at us Gohan?" Tristan shouted.

"That wasn't me!" Gohan told them.

"Who else could do that?"

"Lots of people, like Krillin, 18 and even Bulma's husband Vegeta!"

"But nobody else was here!"

"Let's just get back to Professor Hawkins! Pharaoh, can you fly?"

The Pharaoh tried, but couldn't lift off the ground, so Gohan was forced to carry the car with Duke, Joey and Tristan inside while the Pharaoh rode on horseback. Arriving back at the mobile home, they informed everyone of what happened. Rebecca was in tears, while Tea asked Gohan if he couldn't sense two power levels, to which he replied that now he could only sense one. The sorrow continued on for a while longer

Later, they came up with a plan to try and combat this strange group. However, they were hit with a snag: the Professor's research, which was on Atlantis, was destroyed, and so were the ruins he visited. But there was one other place to visit, and for that, a lift was needed. They first tried Kaiba, but were unsuccessful after he learned that Yugi lost a Duel, and by extension, his Championship title, so they were forced to settle for a train ride.

During that ride, Tea tried to catch the Pharaoh's attention, but it wasn't working: he continued to stare out one of the train windows. If anything, the only response she got was him rising and moving to another part of the train, his tail just hanging limp. Tea tried to follow, but was stopped by Gohan.

"Let him go Tea," he told her.

"But Gohan, the Pharaoh needs us!" she argued.

"I agree, but I saw how you were acting back there, and poking him for reactions at a time like this is not the answer!"

"So where has he gone?"

"I think the better question is…" Joey began, "…where has everyone else gone?"

"Good point, wasn't the train filled with passengers?" Tristan asked, noting the sudden lack of commuters. "What happened to everyone? They couldn't have all needed the little boys' room simultaneously."

"I thought something was off when I couldn't sense any sort of power level whatsoever from them!" Gohan suddenly spoke. "There were probably no passengers to begin with!"

"Check the other coaches! We'll find the Pharaoh!" Tea shouted.

Gohan immediately ran through the coaches towards the back of the train, opening every door he could find, but finding no passengers. He could suddenly feel the train slowing down. He was at the extreme rear of the train at the time, and he looked outside to see that his coach was disconnected, after which he took to the air and caught up with the rest of the train. He saw that another set of coaches had been disconnected, with Joey and Tristan being on one side, and Tea and the Pharaoh on the other. Gohan decided to remain with the latter group, and ran into Weevil Underwood, the insect Duelist from Duelist Kingdom, after seeing that their side of the train was also empty.

Weevil wasn't the only arrival there. Soon to arrive on the scene was Nappa, who immediately challenged Gohan not to a Duel, but a fight. Nappa and Gohan took positions on the second coach behind the one that Tea, the Pharaoh and Weevil were standing on. Nappa immediately started yelling, after which the Seal of Orichalcos appeared on his forehead, his power level increased and the Seal itself encircled both him and Gohan.

Nappa immediately charged himself up with a Lightning Aura and launched at his child opponent, using a right-hook but missing. Gohan reappeared at the other side of the Seal, noting mentally that Nappa seemed to have gotten much stronger since their encounter in the Wasteland so long ago. Not only could Gohan sense that he had been training for years, but the Seal also increased his power level. Gohan only just managed to keep up with Nappa.

"Awww, we need more space!" Nappa growled, and the Seal of Orichalcos immediately expanded to cover three coaches of the train. Nappa then retreated to another side of the Seal and charged an energy attack in his hand. Gohan knew this attack: the same one that killed Piccolo back when he was younger. As soon as Nappa fired it towards him, Gohan went Super Saiyan and blocked the blast.

"How did you survive getting blown up by Vegeta, Nappa?" Gohan asked after deflecting the blast.

"It's… it's impossible for you to have survived that, brat!" Nappa said in shock.

"How did you survive getting blasted by Vegeta?"

"Fine, I already told you, but if you don't believe me, I will show you!"

The Seal then started reacting, and Gohan and Nappa were floating on it above the Wasteland from so long ago. Vegeta threw Nappa into the air and fired an energy blast at him, but the Seal of Orichalcos suddenly appeared, blocked it, and transported him away. The scene changed to a now paralyzed Nappa in a room with three stone snakes at one end.

"What happened?" the paralyzed Nappa asked.

"I have saved you, Nappa," spoke a voice. It belonged to a man with very long teal/light blue hair.

"Who are you earthling?"

"I have an offer for you Nappa. I know who exactly you are, and if you join me, you will get everything you desire."

"How could someone like you know me? We have never even met!"

"Relax Nappa. I know that your comrade, Prince Vegeta, betrayed you. I know you were the general of the Saiyan army. Now tell me something, shouldn't a Prince respect his generals? Shouldn't generals be respected by everyone they lead, and feared by those who oppose them?"

"Very true. I will make sure that ungrateful little prince gets what's coming to-"

"Not yet Nappa, Vegeta is too strong at the moment. But with your help, I can reawaken a creature that will serve as your army: the Great Leviathan. With it at your disposal, not that lower class Saiyan Kakarot, not Vegeta and not even Frieza can stand against you. All that I ask is you join me and aid me in collecting souls to fuel its rebirth."

The man then walked over to Nappa and placed his index finger and middle finger on the Saiyan's forehead, after which the Seal of Orichalcos appeared, and Nappa stood up, fully healed.

"Now, back to the fight! Also, in case you were wondering how I got back from having my soul taken in our last Duel, that man saw fit to give me another chance!" the Nappa facing Gohan spoke, after which the scenery changed to the train again. The fight resumed, but with Gohan having turned a Super Saiyan at that point, the Orichalcos-enhanced Nappa couldn't even lay a hand on him. Gohan eventually started returning blows. First: a kick to the stomach to momentarily stop the giant, and then a left hook to the face, followed by a drop-kick.

Nappa was in awe that, somehow, this kid was so strong, but shakily got up to continue the fight. He charged at Gohan, but he just spun vertically and used a bicycle kick to knock the brute back. Apparently, he knocked him cold, and the Seal started to close in on Nappa. Eventually, a beam of green light burst from the Seal around Nappa and streamed into the sky. Nappa then was unable to stop the winds from blowing him off the roof of the train.

The Pharaoh, meanwhile, was pleading for Weevil to hand over the card that the latter said would free Yugi's soul. Weevil, after enough pleas to hand the card over, instead tore it along its length and threw it away, laughing as he revealed it was just a practical joke. As soon as he said that, not only did the Pharaoh's tail flare up in fury, but a very large ki blast started charging up above them. It shot at the train, scaring Tea and the Pharaoh as it headed straight for the battlefield marked by the Seal of Orichalcos. It impacted a barrier created by the Seal on Weevil's side and was deflected 100 degrees, where it exploded some point further on.

The Pharaoh then proceeded to overcome his opponent's defenses and attack Weevil relentlessly. Tea was shocked at this behavior and called for him to stop; he was still attacking even though he had won the Duel. Gohan knew it was not only due to what happened with the earlier 'joke', it was also due to the fact that a Saiyan's anger can be terrifying, as seen with Vegeta in the past. Indeed, the tail of the Pharaoh was still raised in fury as his monster continued to butcher his long since defeated opponent.

It only stopped when Tea held him back with a cry of "No more!" Gohan, curious to know what attacked them before, flew into the sky looking for the assailant, forgetting that the blast it launched had destroyed the tracks further ahead, and as soon as the train ran into that crater, it derailed and fell off a cliff.


	15. Chapter 14: Battle with the Orichalcos

**Author's**** note:** I'm just going to post this as a reminder every time there is a Duel, but cards highlighted in **bold** are not actual Yugioh cards.

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><p><span>Chapter 14:<span> Fighting the Orichalcos.

As soon as the train derailed, Gohan flew towards the Pharaoh and Tea. By the time he caught up with them, he found an elderly man, a young girl and a wolf by their bodies. They confirmed that the two had survived the fall, and allowed Gohan to stay with them. Later, they awoke, and after being introduced to their hosts, the old and wise Ironheart, the young girl Chris and the fierce and loyal wolf Skye, also meeting Android 16 again, they were taken to another location where, supposedly, you could look for a soul that you have lost.

The Pharaoh, upon reaching this Valley of Lost Souls and hearing Ironheart's instructions, descended into the Valley itself. Gohan and the rest could only look as he braved other vengeful spirits to get to the Stone Circle in the center of the Valley. During that time, Gohan conversed with Android 16 about what happened in the Cell Games, which also featured Ironheart and Chris thanking him for saving the world. Android 16 noted that Gohan seemed to have gotten a lot stronger since then, with Ironheart immediately making the connection to what he called 'the Gift of the Beasts', claiming that he too had received the same power boost the Dark Magician Girl had given Gohan.

Android 16, upon request, told the story of what happened after the Cell Games: he found himself reconstructed in the same area where Cell was fought, only now the landscape was healed. After wandering for a few days, he met Ironheart and his party, and joined them. They were cautious at first after hearing about who he was, but they soon came to accept him due to his inherent benevolence and love for life.

Just after 16 finished, the Seal of Orichalcos appeared on the Stone Circle. Ironheart informed them this is the Pharaoh's test: if he cannot overcome the darkness within him, he will be trapped in the circle forever. Eventually, the Seal disappeared, and he ran over to the center, holding what appeared to be Yugi in his arms.

Later, something else happened. Gohan didn't know what, but Android 16 started getting aggressive, saying that an abomination to life was approaching. Not just one, but two. Ironheart identified exactly what the beast was: the same thing that he fought against during the Battle of Atlantis so many years ago when he waged war against "the evil lord Dartz". Two of those monsters had appeared, and upon Ironheart's request, Gohan immediately flew towards the Pharaoh to assist him in the upcoming battle. Spirits appeared to block his path, among them, spirits of Raditz, Nappa, Dodoria, Zarbon, the Ginyu Force, Frieza and the Spice Boys. Gohan just blasted each one with a Masenko and continued onward.

He reached the Pharaoh just as the Seal of Orichalcos descended, announcing that he wouldn't fight alone. Ironheart then informed them as the two monsters conjured up two more monsters that the spirits of Atlantis would help them, but they cannot act alone, so monsters would need to be summoned. They were then shown a vision from the past of a battle, most likely the Battle of Atlantis, where Ironheart, Chris and Skye were fighting.

The Pharaoh started his turn by summoning the Fusion monster Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast and attacking one of the two brown monsters with it, while Gohan played his **Galick Gun** beforehand on his turn as he was the first of the human/Saiyan hybrids to go, after which he followed suit with summoning **Crane School Warrior** (1000/500) and sacrificing it to summon **Twin Sister of Light**, which in turn summoned **Twin Sister of Darkness**, both having 1500 ATK, setting a card after this. He then attacked his 400+500 monster with the former, but after this happened, it got revived, now a 900+500 ATK monster, so he instead switched his second monster to Defense position. His summoner, which was at 3400 LP, revealed a card known as Surprise Attack from Beyond, attacked **Twin Sister of Light** with his monster, which got destroyed, and reincarnated with 1400+500 ATK, after which it attacked again.

Gohan played Shrink, cutting the monster's attack in half and activated a Special Ability of **Twin Sister of Darkness;** Black Hole, firstly by discarding a card and forcibly switching the other Twin Sister to Defense mode; he could halve the attack of all attacking monsters, bringing the attacking monster's ATK to 425, and if the ATK fell below 750 (1000 if the monster was a LIGHT attribute, 500 if the Monster was a DARK attribute), that monster was "devoured", meaning that the attacking monster is sacrificed and Gohan gains Life equal to the monster's ATK at the start of the Battle Phase, adding up to a total LP count of 5900. On top of which, if the monster can be Special Summoned due to an ability, that particular ability is negated until the start of the controller's next turn.

The Pharaoh, by that point, had tried activating Fissure to get rid of his assailant, but it only came back stronger at 1900+500 ATK. Gohan's opponent's monster also came back with the same stats. Gohan played Card of Sanctity, giving him up to 6 cards in his hand after which he tried summoning his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing** (0/2500), while his **Galick Gun** had gained 500 from **Crane School Warrior**, 1500 from his Sisters, 750 from the Pharaoh's Gazelle and 700 from his Berfomet, the last two having been used as Fusion Material for Chimera, bringing it to a total of 3450. He switched his **Twin Sister of Light** into Attack mode and activated one of its Special Abilities: Burning Light. First, he discarded a card, then forcibly switched his other Twin Sister to Attack mode, then the Attack of one Monster was decreased by 1000 (2000 if the Monster was DARK, 500 if the Monster was LIGHT) and, due to the monster being DARK, had its attack decreased to 400. The **Twin Sister of Light** attacked and destroyed it, bringing the summoner down to 2300. The monster was then reincarnated with an ATK of 2400+500, after which Gohan played a face-down card.

The Pharaoh, who had lost Chimera and brought back Gazelle, had just used Mirror Force to destroy his opponent's monster, but it got reincarnated with the same stats as the one facing Gohan. The latter one attacked again, but Gohan activated his face-down Kunai with Chain, using its effect to switch the monster into Defense position. Upon taking his turn, Gohan received a total of 3000 Life Points due to there being six monsters total in play for a grand total of 8900 points, and played Pot of Greed, gaining 2 cards, then Enemy Controller, changing the monster facing him into Attack position. He then played his **Twin Sister of Light's** ability, weakening it by 2000 points to get it down to 900, and then his **Galick Gun** fired, destroying the monster and dealing a fatal 2550 damage to the summoner, knocking him out of the game. He then ended by switching his **Twin Sister of Darkness** to Defense mode.

By that point, the Pharaoh's Gazelle was destroyed, and replaced by the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. Gohan, knowing that he couldn't let him drop out of the game, activated his **Life Transfer** magic card to give his partner the 2500 Life points acquired from the Healing Totem, for a total of 4800 Life Points. The remaining summoner targeted Gohan with Swords of Revealing Light and attacked the Celtic Guardian with the 2400+500 creature, bringing him down to 3200 LP, but not destroying the monster.

After this, the Pharaoh and Gohan were shown more of the Battle of Atlantis, more specifically how the battle was playing out. The Duel then continued with the former passing and taking another 1500 damage to have 1700 LP remaining. Gohan then drew exactly what he needed: the Eye of Timaeus. First, he used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the Swords of Revealing Light that were stopping him from attacking, then next was the Magic Card **Sister's Unity**, turning his Twin Sisters into one monster with 2500 ATK and DEF, and then came Timaeus itself. Gohan immediately fused him with his Sisters to create **Sisters' Twilight Dragon**, with 3000 ATK and DEF.

The Dragon looked like Timaeus, but with the Twin Sisters standing back to back on his back, with one half of him shining and one half of him being partially hidden under a black haze. "I now activate the Special Ability of my Dragon!" Gohan began. "When I discard two cards, it weakens your monster by 2000 Attack points, 3000 if your monster is DARK attribute, but 1000 if it is LIGHT, and if the Former Attribute monster's strength falls below 1000, the Latter Attribute below 2000, and everything else below 1500, it is devoured."

With that, the last summoner's monster's attack dropped from 2900 to 0 and left the field, giving Gohan the same number of Life Points. He then attacked directly with the Dragon, destroying the other opponent, after which the Seal vanished.

Gohan, feeling that the Pharaoh would be able to use Timaeus again now that he had passed the trial before this battle, returned the card to him. After bidding everyone farewell, the two of them, along with Tea, continued onwards. After a while, they ran into Tien and Chiaotzu, who were training in that area at the time, and they decided to accompany the three of them for a while. Later, a KaibaCorp Jet was seen flying over, and three Dragons, Timaeus and Hermos included, were carrying it on their backs. Eventually, the aircraft was set down at a location not too far from where everyone else was, and the five of them not only met up with Joey and Tristan carrying a soulless Rex Raptor, but also the Kaiba Brothers.

Bad news came as all of them boarded a KaibaCorp helicopter that was with the plane: the company had been bought by Dartz. However, there was a turnaround when Kaiba mentioned that he had sent people to the Museum that contained Professor Hawkins' research. They eventually contacted him and uploaded the images, but not finishing before they were cut off. The images, as a result, were not of good quality and they had to go to KaibaCorp headquarters as a result.

Landing there, they were met by Professor Hawkins, Rebecca, Duke, Bulma and Vegeta. After the landing, a time machine appeared, and out came Trunks in his mother's Saiyan Battle Armor. After greeting everyone and informing them of his success in taking down not only the Androids, but also the monster Cell of his time, he was informed of the new threat facing the world.

Trunks volunteered his abilities on the spot, but Tea and Tristan thought they would need more help and so decided to contact the police. Tien, thinking something was off, decided to accompany them, taking Chiaotzu and Trunks along as well, while the Pharaoh, Kaiba and Gohan broke into KaibaCorp and Vegeta grudgingly stood guard over Bulma, Duke, Joey, Mokuba and the Hawkins family.

Inside KaibaCorp, Gohan defended Kaiba and the Pharaoh from hostile monsters, and also with remote help from Rebecca and her hacking skills, they reached their target without much incident. After a while though, Dartz himself seemed to overload the machine and challenge the three of them to Duel. He immediately asked, upon seeing Timaeus summoned, how his eye was, a question that apparently infuriated the dragon so much that it attacked. It was revealed around that time that Dartz owned the Paradius organization; an organization that owned a small piece of every company in the world.

Meanwhile, the talk with the police force wasn't going well, as they had been corrupted by Dartz, and Tien, Trunks and Chiaotzu were forced to fight them off along with a summoned monster, the same one that the Pharaoh and Gohan fought. Tea and Tristan were forced to flee, and ran into Joey in the streets, running in the opposite direction. One thing led to another, and the Seal of Orichalcos descended from the sky, signifying that a Duel was underway. At one point, Kaiba, the Pharaoh and Gohan fought off more of the monster summoners, the Orichalcos soldiers, using Critias, Timaeus and the Super Saiyan form respectively.

Gohan took to the air after dealing with the Soldiers, and was the first to find Joey dueling: he looked beaten, yet unwilling to back down. Mai was also there, but soon after, the Seal closed in on Joey's opponent. Knowing there might be another Duel right around the corner, Gohan told Joey to hold off on Dueling until he got back. He planned to restore Joey's strength with a Senzu Bean, yet by the time he got the beans (only three) from the cat Korin, he began to sense the dark energies that accompanied the Seal of Orichalcos. Gohan sped back to his friend as fast as he possibly could, but he was too late; the Seal had descended, locking Joey and Mai inside.

After a few minutes, where surprisingly Mai seemed to be undergoing a change of heart as she couldn't bring herself to attack her then defenseless opponent, the one thing Gohan didn't want to happen occurred: Joey fainted from exhaustion and the Seal closed in around him. With that, though, the former could sense that the dark powers in Mai were dissipating, and she herself realized that she had given up things truly valuable in favor of following 'a madman who promised her power' and promised that Dartz would pay.


	16. Chapter 15: Save the World

Chapter 15: Save the World

Mai, looking down on Joey's soulless body, asked Gohan to let her go: she needed to settle things with Dartz. Sensing her reformed heart, Gohan let her go, instead raising his power level so that, hopefully, he could call the others. Eventually, the Pharaoh, Tea, Tristan, Tien, Trunks and Chiaotzu joined him. A few minutes after they arrived, Gohan could sense Yamcha nearby and immediately flew off to meet with him while everyone else headed for Paradius Headquarters, Tien carrying Joey's defeated opponent, and Tristan carrying Joey..

Yamcha was trying to fight off three Orichalcos Soldiers, and they had each summoned the same monster Gohan fought in his battle. These summoned monsters were starting to beat him into the ground, and as soon as he saw this, Gohan turned Super Saiyan and launched three Masenkos at the soldiers, destroying them and disintegrating the summoned monsters. He then explained everything to Yamcha and they took off after the Pharaoh, meeting back up with Kaiba.

At that point, it turned out Mai had lost, and the Pharaoh was the next one challenged by the victor Rafael. They were on the rooftop at the time, and the Duel was quite close, with Timaeus being summoned, along with the Guardian Dreadscythe, and the use of Underworld Circle also proved to be interesting. Eventually, the Duel ended with Rafael using the last of his Life Points to re-summon his sacrificed monsters in an act of redemption. This turned out to be the only Duel so far in which the Seal of Orichalcos failed to take the loser's soul. After the Duel resolved, however, the building started collapsing. Kaiba's helicopter landed on the nearby helipad, and Tien with the man revealed to be one Valon on his back, Yamcha with Mai on his, Chiaotzu and Gohan flew to the waiting aircraft while the Kaiba Brothers ran on foot. The stairs to the helipad, which was the only way to get there by foot, soon gave way, and Trunks took the Pharaoh and Rafael in his arms and flew inside the helicopter.

The Pharaoh then asked Trunks if this happened in his timeline, to which he responded "No". Apparently, Paradius headquarters was in one of the first areas to be targeted by the Androids, whether or not by coincidence remained a mystery, but all the same, the organization was razed to the ground, and subsequently, the Future Leviathan was never reborn. By the time Trunks finished his story, Rafael gave Kaiba a computer chip with the location of Dartz's lair on it, and they found themselves surrounded by air-force war planes. They were taken to an aircraft carrier of a naval fleet and the people there pleaded with them to save the world. When asked why they couldn't help, they replied that not only was it outside their jurisdiction, but about five or six years ago, the fleet that the was decimated single-handedly by a flying bald man, with the aircraft carrier being the only survivor, forming the current fleet later on.

Soon, however, everyone left, except for the military forces, Tien, Yamcha and Chiaotzu, who decided to hang back unless they sensed something dangerous. From there, the KaibaCorp helicopter braved harsh weather to reach the island hideout of Dartz. Upon landing, everyone proceeded to move inside, except for the KaibaCorp personnel, Rafael and Trunks. Inside, they eventually found a room with carvings of people inside rectangular borders chiseled into stone. One just happened to be Yugi, and Gohan knew, because the energy he was sensing was his, that the carving was his soul, yet somehow, it seemed to be partially free to some extent.

Dartz then appeared, and Kaiba challenged him to a Duel on the spot, with Yugi volunteering to take part as well. For some reason, neither allowed Gohan to join in the Duel, so he was forced to watch from the sidelines. After a while, Dartz summoned four Mirror Knights and, although the Seal of Orichalcos had been played, Gohan was still able to sense some familiar presences, however unable to identify them as, by that point, the Seal had been reinforced, severely hamstringing his ability to sense energy inside. One thing that caught his attention though, was why each knight differed in height, and why the smallest one had a brown tail protruding through its lower armor.

The answer was quite worrying: after Kaiba destroyed one monster that kept regenerating the abilities of the knights, the head armor of each knight shattered and revealed Yugi, Joey, Mai and Pegasus. For a time, Yugi refused to obey an order given by Dartz to attack the Pharaoh, and Gohan noticed that his tail had flared up, but then a second reinforcement to the Seal of Orichalcos was played, leading to the tail dropping down and becoming limp, and also completely shutting off the inside world such that he was now unable to sense anything inside the barrier. At some point, Rafael came in demanding that Dartz set everyone free, but the latter instead rekindled the former's rage by revealing his involvement in the tragic accidents that led them to work for him in the first place, stripping his former employee of his soul as a result.

Eventually, Seto Kaiba was beaten despite getting Critias out, losing his soul as a result and he got thrown out of the arena afterwards by Dartz. He then proceeded to knock everyone out with some sort of magic that opened a giant eye, and Gohan was forced to go Super Saiyan to resist. The Pharaoh, after a long and harsh battle, managed to win, but his opponent disappeared through a portal. As soon as Tea, Tristan and Mokuba woke up, Gohan could sense something good. The Pharaoh looked shorter, and his tail, which had been hanging limp for a while, started to wrap itself around his waist. He turned his head, and it turned out to actually be Yugi. At the same time, Gohan could sense his power skyrocket, probably due to him having Saiyan genes and, technically, almost dying. Kaiba soon got up, and Joey came barging in followed by Trunks. However, Rafael's body remained motionless, and Gohan couldn't sense anything from it.

One of Kaiba's suits burst in, announcing that something was happening outside. Once there, everyone could see the nearby waters being disturbed, with an ancient city slowly rising out of the sea. Remembering the portal from earlier, Kaiba, Yugi, Joey, accompanied by Gohan and Trunks, decided to get to the bottom of things. The portal took them to the city itself, and once there, they reached the center where, apparently, a crystalline figure of Dartz on a throne stood under a gazebo-type structure. It disintegrated when Yugi (who had let the Pharaoh take control) touched it, and Dartz spoke to them, announcing that he was with the Leviathan he had been working to resurrect, and instead of using the souls of the Pharaoh, Kaiba and Joey, he used his own soul to wake it up.

Soon after he said this, something burst out from the sea below. It was a long, dark purple fish/dragon type creature; the Great Leviathan. Trunks and Gohan immediately went Super Saiyan while the other three summoned monsters along with the Dragons Timaeus, Critias and Hermos, who were then transformed into their true forms of knights. All the monsters then attacked, with Trunks and Gohan following suit via a barrage of ki blasts. Tien, Chiaotzu and Yamcha arrived, followed by Android 16 with Ironheart, Chris and Skye on his back as soon as Timaeus readied another strike, this time with multiply ability of a Kuriboh boosting its attack strength a thousand times. Nothing worked.

Someone else arrived, but it turned out to be Nappa again, who immediately powered up with the power of the Orichalcos and a Lightnig Aura and charged at Gohan. When asked how he survived his soul being taken a second time, Dartz actually revealed that, somehow, he was able to resist losing his soul, as if the Orichalcos couldn't tear it out. At that point, Gohan was hit with a realization, but there were more important things to worry about at the time. Nappa continued attacking, and just as he was about to land a blow on his opponent, something hit him in the back. When he turned, he saw Vegeta, and he charged at him instead. While Vegeta seemed to be surprised at how much stronger Nappa had become, he just went Super Saiyan and fired a Big Bang Cannon at him, destroying him for good.

The Leviathan then charged up its own energy blast and fired at Yugi, Kaiba and Joey. Yugi immediately had Timaeus create a barrier to stop the blast, but all monsters save the knights were destroyed by the attack. Just as it was readying a second attack, the sky lit up, and monsters descended from the light, led by the Dark Magician Girl, telling her army to join forces with the humans and attack the Great Beast. The Duelists summoned fresh monsters and launched another attack, assisted by Tien shooting Tri-Beams at the Leviathan's forehead, Chiaotzu firing a Dodon Ray, Yamcha firing a volley of ki blasts, Android 16 using his Hell's Flash, Trunks using one of his techniques, Vegeta using another Big Bang Cannon, someone unknown shooting it with a barrage of energy blasts and Gohan using a Masenko and the non-summoned monsters assisting in close combat. However, the only thing that happened was the Leviathan retaliating by shooting what appeared to be diamond-shaped energy blasts that impaled the summoned monsters, Tien, Yamcha, Chaiotzu, Timaeus, Critias and Hermos. Vegeta, Trunks, Android 16 and Gohan managed to dodge though.

"Gohan, perhaps it is time for you to release your power!" the Pharaoh spoke, knowing that they were fast running out of options. Joey taunted the Leviathan, which responded by shooting dark purple semi-liquid tentacles at all of them, with the Z fighters being the only ones able to dodge. The Duelists, meanwhile, were pulled towards the Leviathan when a disk of energy cut through the slime tentacles. Gohan recognized it as Krillin's Destructo Disk, and sure enough, he and Android 18 had arrived, the latter immediately blasting the Leviathan. Everyone paid a little bit too much attention to the new arrival though, as they found themselves ensnared again except for Gohan and Vegeta, the latter of which assumed a spread-eagled position gathering energy.

"Let them go Dartz!" he pleaded.

"No, these souls will further power up the Great Leviathan!" Dartz spoke, fueling the boy's anger.

"Let them go!"

"Sorry to disappoint child, but they shall be absorbed into the Beast where they will be reunited with their friends!"

"Let… them… go!"

"Are you hard of hearing, you insignificant little runt?"

"Let… them… go… you… **monster**!" Gohan shouted, whereupon he started screaming, the Earth itself quaking in response.

"Final Flash!" yelled Vegeta, thrusting his hands forward and shooting a powerful yellow beam at the Leviathan, which was countered with a purple mouth-blast.

As Gohan continued screaming, massive amounts of power were gushing out from him, which froze the trapped Duelists, Z fighters, Duel Monster Spirits and even the Leviathan in amazement. Gohan's hair further flared up, and electricity started crackling around him. At that point, lights also started bursting from the Leviathan and flowing into the Duel Disk of Yugi, the only thing that hadn't submerged beneath the Leviathan's skin. The Duel Spirits followed suit, flying into the Disk, and soon, Yugi, Joey, Kaiba and the Z fighters burst from the creature's stomach.

"How did you get us out of there?" Joey asked.

"By summoning them," the Pharaoh stated, pointing to where the three Egyptian Gods now waited. By then, Gohan had finished unleashing his power and he charged the Leviathan, landing many punches and kicks, which always knocked it backwards. It fled into the sky the first chance it got, followed by Gohan, Yugi and the three Gods. They soon came face to face with their foe and attacked, and while Gohan continued to beat it around, Obelisk, who was also attacking in close combat, wasn't having as much luck and the two other gods had to free it.

After the first attack, the Leviathan readied a strong blast, but the Pharaoh took control, still hovering in mid air, and immediately issued orders.

"Gohan, ready a Kamehameha wave!" was the first order given by the Pharaoh.

"Ka…" Gohan began, getting into the stance.

"Obelisk, Fist of Fury!"

"Me…"

"Slifer, Thunder Force Attack!"

"Ha…"

"Ra, ignite your mighty Blaze Cannon!"

"Me..."

"Attack!"

"HA!" Gohan shouted, thrusting his hands forward. The Blasts from him, Obelisk, Slifer and the Winged Dragon of Ra combined into one giant, extremely powerful beam that clashed with the Leviathan's attack and pushed it back. The Leviathan itself came into contact with the combined attacks shortly afterwards, disintegrating in their fury until they exploded, leaving it falling back down to earth and further breaking down until, by the time it hit the sea, it was little more than chunks of matter.

Atlantis started crumbling at that point, and Gohan, Joey, Kaiba and Yugi decided to take the portal back. The Z fighters just hovered in the sky, unsure of whether or not to leave. Just as Yugi was about to enter the portal, the Pharaoh stopped him, noting that something was wrong.

Dartz appeared behind them, transforming into the spirit of the Great Leviathan. Timaeus was summoned to combat the creature, but was instantly recalled due to sustaining a large wound. The Pharaoh, in spirit form, insisted that Yugi run, but his partner refused, instead deciding to help combat Dartz, with Gohan landing just as he insisted on staying. The Leviathan's spirit form crashed into that of the Pharaoh and started destroying him. After Yugi told him to focus on the light, the Leviathan's spirit instead targeted the young half-Saiyan, reasoning that due to the Saiyans having a knack and lust for fighting, the darkness in their hearts could rival that of the Pharaoh's darkness.

The Leviathan reared above Yugi, preparing to strike. Yugi, too, got into a battle position, going Super Saiyan. "Ka…" he started. "Me…" the Leviathan charged. "Ha…" it was a third of the way to its target. "Me…" it almost reached him. "HA!" Yugi shouted, thrusting his hands forward just as the Leviathan was about to impact, striking it at point blank range.

"No! This is impossible! You are powerless!" Dartz screamed.

"What made you think that?" Yugi asked.

"I captured your soul! I could sense that you had no power whatsoever to offer the Great Leviathan!"

"You said that Nappa could resist the Orichalcos didn't you?"

"Yes, but your soul was taken. Your power was offered to the Great Beast, yet you had none!"

"Maybe my half-Saiyan body managed to retain all of its power. Now take this!" Yugi shouted, further increasing his power. His aura started sparking electricity, his hair further flared up and his Kamehameha increased in strength to such magnitude that it darkened the sky, with a large blue beam blasting upwards from the once sunken city. The Leviathan's spirit started slowly breaking down, screaming, as it got reduced to nothingness by the massive Kamehameha.

Dartz reappeared, with Ironheart, Chris, Skye and Android 16 landing by the portal. This time, the teal haired, long haired man, instead of having one eye coloured teal and the other yellow had both eyes the latter color. Gohan and Yugi could also sense that the dark presence they felt inside him was gone, and after that, it was a father-son and father-daughter reunion. They beckoned Android 16, Yugi and Gohan to the portal, thanking them for saving them all.

Joey and Kaiba, along with Tea, Tristan, Mokuba and the pilots, took off in the helicopter by that point, and Atlantis sank back into the sea, creating massive waves. As the now clear sky approached sunset, somewhere on an island beach lay Yugi and Gohan, with Android 16 watching over them. Soon, they heard a voice.

"Yugi, Gohan, wake up."

* * *

><p><strong>End note:<strong> I'll probably update this story later in the week, as I have almost reached my goal. I know I should have probably put this at the beginning, but I took inspiration for the chapter name from an episode of Dragonball Z with the same name.


	17. Chapter 16: Kaiba Land part 1

**Author's note:** I've been looking forward to writing this chapter ever since I began the story. You'll see why if you read on... with that, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 16:<span> Kaiba Land part 1

Yugi and Gohan both woke to the sound of the voice. The former asked where they were, to which Android 16 responded that he had taken them out of harm's way.

"But what about our friends?" Yugi asked. "They'll be worried, we have to find them."

"I am taking care of that," Android 16 replied. "I am broadcasting a signal that is being picked up by the Kaiba Corporation helicopter as we speak. Your friends will be here in a matter of minutes."

Just then, a bright orb of light appeared, and as it dissipated, it revealed the Dark Magician Girl along with the three Legendary Knights of Atlantis. They all thanked Yugi and Gohan for their help, and announced that, thanks to them, the Dominion of the Beasts can once again prosper, with the Legendary Knights, now free from the evil spell cast upon them, able to protect that realm just as they did so long ago.

Gohan questioned her about returning the strength he had received from her now that the threat was over, but she insisted that he and Yugi keep it, they might need it later. The Dark Magician Girl also noted that he didn't use the strength received in the battle, and asked to just see how powerful he would become. When Gohan protested, saying that it could adversely affect the Earth, she conjured up a barrier to shield the rest of the world from the effects.

With that, he powered up, his hair flaring up and him discharging electricity. He further screamed, and Yugi swore for a second that he could hear something roar. Gohan's hair became longer, and longer, until it had reached his waist. His own tail had also turned gold and flared up. The shield looked like it could barely hold, and indeed the Dark Magician Girl looked like she was out of breath.

She collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily, and with that, the barrier broke. Gohan returned to normal upon seeing this, a bit out of breath himself; he wasn't used to that new form, and although he could feel that it wasn't that much of an issue, the form seemed to drain his energy. "I think that would make you a Super Saiyan… three?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, I think so Yugi," Gohan responded. "By the way, did you also receive a power boost?"

"Yes. First from the Dark Magician Girl, and then once I got my body back. I think my power increased again after the Leviathan's defeat, but I remember fainting from exhaustion as I walked through the portal, and my body actually hurt from the effort required to destroy the monster."

"What is going on here?" the Dark Magician Girl asked. "I know I increased both your powers, but Yugi, you say yours increased again. How come?"

"Yes, Dark Magician Girl. One side of my family belonged to a powerful warrior race known as the Saiyans, and they get stronger every time they recover from a near fatal injury. I think Gohan received the same power up after he killed Cell."

"Regardless, you fought bravely," Timaeus cut in. After some more congratulations, all thee Knights retreated back into the sky, which began shining with many lights. The Dark Magician Girl followed them, but not before saying that the time may come when they and the humans would need each other again, and if so, she will be in his Deck. After she left, the KaibaCorp helicopter appeared, and everyone boarded including Android 16. During the helicopter ride, Gohan revealed the epiphany he had about why the Orichalcos couldn't take Yugi's power: it seemed to be incompatible with the Saiyans; hence the reason why Nappa's soul remained intact and the Leviathan got almost no power out of Yugi himself. Gohan actually suspected in his mind that if Yugi was a pure-blooded Saiyan, he would have come away with his soul intact as well.

They landed by the Hawkins' mobile home, after which Yugi, Gohan, Tea, Tristan, Joey and Android 16 disembarked. Rafael and the Kaiba Brothers then departed. A few days passed, during which Gohan studied, with Rebecca helping him. He also made sure to contact his mother so she wouldn't worry, and Chi-Chi seemed quite ecstatic to hear that her son had not only remembered to continue studying, but also found a 'study-buddy' of sorts, a child genius no less. One morning arrived, and Yugi was nowhere to be found. Android 16 had also disappeared, but the two were later found near a lake enjoying the fresh air and nature.

Later that morning, as everyone tried to decide how they would get back to Domino City, Mokuba arrived via KaibaCorp helicopter, announcing the K.C. Grand Championship tournament, inviting Yugi. He also had invitations for Joey, Rebecca and, surprisingly, Gohan. When he asked Mokuba why he was invited, he was told that Mai Valentine had apparently vouched for him when she was approached. When Mokuba found her, she was on the move, apparently having decided to travel the world and Duel until she was ready to face Joey. According to the young Kaiba brother, she said Gohan would probably make a better contestant than her, so he made a decision to favor him over her.

Mokuba also arranged for all of them to head back to Domino City after the tournament's conclusion. Everyone agreed to accompany him to the tournament venue: Kaiba Land. Once there, they were shown around the theme park, culminating in a visit to the Kaiba Dome: an indoor Duel stadium with a traditional Duel Monsters arena, complete with a program to allow people to practice their skills at Dueling that featured Decks from some of the best Duelists in the world. One of the children was in a practice match which he subsequently lost. Gohan, intrigued, asked to be the next one who Dueled, but changed his mind after Yugi was approached by a child named Rick and gave him a card to improve his all-Dragon deck, leading the child to want to test it.

At this point, the Stadium went into a state of lockdown. All exits were sealed and the voice of the computer changed from being its usual feminine sounding voice to something deep, masculine and sinister. The Difficulty setting, which could be adjusted from beginner, to intermediate, advanced, expert and so on depending on the player's skill, increased to its maximum setting for masters. Yugi immediately took Rick's place in the Duel, but still used his Deck after Rebecca noted that the only way to get out would be to defeat the computer in a Duel.

"If worse comes to worst, I can get us out of here the _very easy_ way!" Gohan volunteered

"What's the very easy way?" Yugi asked, but then realized. "Oh, wait never mind."

"What _is_ this very easy way?" Mokuba wondered.

"Well, are the sealed entrances blast doors by any chance?"

"No…"

"I don't think it would matter either way."

The Duel continued, and although things got tough for Yugi, he managed to draw the one card needed to win the Duel: Heart of the Underdog, and the turn after, the effect activated, letting him draw monster after monster, ending in the Spirit Ryu, which, thanks to its ability, won the Duel in one attack.

That night, tournament registration began. Due to there being many newspaper journalists and TV reporters, Gohan was a bit nervous about his mother seeing him, but Mokuba told him that Chi-Chi had already been contacted and informed of this development, and she apparently allowed it since her son took time out to study without her pressuring him to do so. During introduction of the contestants, he was introduced as a rare Duelist with even rarer cards, hidden from tournaments until now.

The next day, everyone was gathered at the now open-top Kaiba Dome, where the official opening ceremony began. Everyone was informed that there would be two Duels at once, and the first two would be Joey Wheeler against the mystery Duelist Apdnarg Otum (whom Gohan could swear he knew), and Dr. Richard Goat vs. Leon Wilson. Match number three to be scheduled pitted Gohan against one Jafar Shin. Yugi went to watch Joey duel, knowing exactly who he was up against, with him revealing the identity to Gohan just before leaving.

As the Duel went on, Professor Hawkins showed up and explained the mystery duelist's motivation to Duel, which included getting the last of many necessary components to summon the Ancient Dragon monster. Joey, however, managed to make a comeback and defeat the masked man, revealed to him to be his mentor Solomon Muto, who explained that he entered the tournament to test Joey's skills, and that his pupil passed. There was also one other reason he flew all the way to Kaiba Land.

Solomon handed Yugi a large package, which said 'From your mother'. Upon opening it, he saw Saiyan battle armor and also some device that Yugi would not have been able to identify had it not been for an enclosed note identifying it as a Scouter. "Grandpa, does this mean that…" he began, tears of joy filling up his eyes.

"Yes, your mother wants to meet you Yugi," Solomon answered his question. "Just after I got off the phone with Arthur, I ran into her, and she gave me that package, insisting that I deliver it to you the first chance I got."

"But what now?"

"It looks like that note has instructions. I think they are meant for you though Yugi."

"Okay, they say: 'Don the Battle Armor enclosed and attach the Scouter as shown, then get Solomon to dial 'that' number, and he will lead you to a meeting spot.' After that it just has a photo of Vegeta wearing one of these things."

Yugi first put on the Scouter, which had a blue eye-piece. Luckily, the note included instructions on how to use the device, and so he decided to measure Joey's power level, which turned out to be about 50 or so. Duke mentioned that Yugi looked quite good with the Scouter, with Tristan and Joey agreeing. Tea and Mokuba were at a loss for words though, the latter wondering what all this was about and the former wondering why her friend had to wear something different.

Mokuba directed Yugi to a restroom, and from there, the King of Games removed his clothing and donned the blue long sleeved jumpsuit that came with the armor. After that, came the white boots, followed by the armor itself, which was similar to Bulma's model, except it was light blue with royal blue sections and shoulder straps instead of white and yellow respectively. There were gloves, but Yugi didn't put them on.

Once he was clad in the armor, he recited the instructions again, prompting Mokuba to take Solomon to a phone. After the call, Yugi was led with everyone else to the Kaiba Land Main Gate. As soon as they arrived, Solomon stepped past the gates and shouted into the distance:

"Fasha, I have brought the boy!"


	18. Chapter 17: Kaiba Land part 2

Chapter 17: Kaiba Land part 2: Fasha Muto

"What exactly is going on?" Mokuba asked.

"Well, Yugi is about to meet his long-lost mother," Solomon answered, after which a pink energy sphere appeared in the sky. That shot two blasts which impacted the ground side by side, separated only by a metre. A second volley hit just in front of that, after a third, and it continued. Through all of this, Yugi could sense that unfamiliar power level again, and in addition to that, behind all of the blasts, he could see the silhouette of a figure.

After a while, the energy orb dissipated, leaving the light to shine on to the figure, revealing a woman almost as tall as Joey in Saiyan Battle Armor, wearing a green scouter on one ear, and some sort of long rectangular earring on the other. Her Battle Armor was a mostly black/dark-blue color with a dark yellow section and shoulder strap, with knee guards on her knees, and a pink vest underneath. Her left leg also sported a yellowish material just under the knee guard there, and there was something brown around her waist which Yugi could only assume was a tail.

She just continued walking towards an awestruck Yugi, leaning in towards him once she was close enough and whispering in his ear. "How do I get rid of that annoying spirit inside you?"

"You mean the Spirit of the Pharaoh in my pu- necklace?" Yugi asked, a bit worried at the venom in Fasha's voice directed at the Pharaoh.

"Pharaoh, shmaraoh! How do I get rid of it? I want to reunite with you and only you!"

"Well, I guess, maybe removing the necklace?"

Fasha then lifted the Millennium Puzzle off Yugi's neck and threw it to Solomon, ordering him to hold onto it. Solomon only just managed to catch it, panicking and apparently sweating as well. She then took Yugi's hand and, saying that they would be back soon, took off into the sky, with her son following just behind. She led him to a nearby mountain, landing on the summit.

"Why did you lead me away, Mom?" Yugi asked.

"Call me Fasha," his mother responded. "I wanted to meet with you, the rest of them can wait, and that includes the ghost!"

"Did… did I offend you just now?"

"No Yugi, I just hate the ghost. Anyway, I think that's for later. I expect you have many questions, so, as much as I probably will regret saying these words, ask away."

"Well, for starters, why don't I remember you from my childhood? It was as if you didn't exist at all!"

"I actually was there at the start of your life; I just left as soon as you lost the need for me. At the time I felt I had to, because I was on the run."

"From what?"

Fasha then proceeded to reveal to Yugi how she got to Earth. The time before, over twenty years ago, she, along with four other people, was part of the empire of Frieza. Her team, led by one Bardock, used force to purge planets of life. Her people, the Saiyans, took quickly to that type of work as it involved a lot of fighting, at which they are naturally adept. Her warband was not an elite team, but a band of low-level soldiers. After one job, things went downhill fast: they had taken the planet Kanassa, but Bardock was injured, and so they took him to heal.

In the meantime, Fasha and the other three members of her team were sent to purge another planet. That job took very little time to complete, but after that, they were ambushed by an elite team led by one of Frieza's right hand men Dodoria. She fought well, but fell to the brutes, barely alive, and she knew that if she were to continue to fight, she would die, so instead she did what no Saiyan would even think of doing: feigned death. After a while in which those elites were killed by Bardock, who arrived after the battle, Dodoria appeared and seemingly destroyed him. However, he survived, as did she, both of whom took space pods back to planet Vegeta.

Instead of following Bardock, Fasha made a beeline for King Vegeta's palace, intending to inform him of Frieza's treachery, but he wasn't there. Her next move was to take a Scouter, download as much about the Saiyans as possible and leave for somewhere where she couldn't be found. After all, she knew from what Dodoria said that Frieza was going to destroy the planet, and she was but one badly wounded Saiyan woman against a whole empire, so she would need to go underground, recover, train hard and destroy Frieza at the next available opportunity. By the time she got all the information she wanted on her Scouter, a large ball of energy had been launched at the planet. It impacted, boring into the crust and destroying the world, Fasha just barely escaping the explosion.

She was spotted during the escape, and Dodoria along with Zarbon, another right hand man, were sent to destroy her. She risked her pod's structural integrity to escape, and that was when she crashed on Earth. Her ship was reduced to little more than scrap metal, and she herself wasn't fairing so well, blacking out after managing to crawl from the wreckage.

She woke up in a hospital, where she was continually being pierced by needles and other medical equipment. Upon feeling the pain, she immediately turned hostile, and it took one of the doctors almost getting killed to explain to her that they were trying to help her, as she had suffered large wounds and multiple bruises among other injuries. For over a week she endured their 'help', not thinking it much help at all, and during the entire time, the only one brave enough to approach her was the doctor she almost killed: Jameson Muto, Yugi's father. He had also saved the Scouter she brought with her, making the deal that as long as she were to stay there and recover, she would get it back. Once she was discharged, he offered to let her stay at his home, the Kame Game shop. Initially, she refused, still shaken over the betrayal of Frieza and thinking nobody could be trusted as a result, so she left for four years, living in the wilds, fighting whatever she could.

At the end of the four year period, out of loneliness, she returned to Domino City looking for Dr. Muto. Night had fallen when she reached the shop, but he wasn't there, so she used her Scouter, which had recorded his energy signature, and found him in an alleyway surrounded by five men armed with either tire-irons or baseball bats. At the time she arrived, they were muttering something about them not having to pay for healthcare. It was clear that she needed to step in, and she quickly did away with each of the thugs and looted their carcasses, claiming 'spoils of war'.

Dr. Muto thought her methods were a little extreme (as did Yugi when he heard this), but was still thankful for the help. After that, Fasha moved in with him and his father Solomon, the latter of whom she found she could easily bend to her will. Five years later, when Yugi was two, she feared that Frieza would come looking for them, and so left to train to destroy them, eventually selecting one village as her training ground. More recently, she decided to keep an eye on her son due to his participation in something called 'Battle City', revealing that she was the unfamiliar power level Yugi sensed during his time at Kame House, the Cell Games and the Leviathan battle.

Yugi was left uncomfortable with some of the things she mentioned, like the fact that she slaughtered billions of people in the name of Frieza before the betrayal, and although he liked the part where she saved his father, it was still unnerving due to the whole "spoils of war" excuse for looting. Eventually, he managed to bring himself to ask Fasha what made her decide to reveal herself to him.

She struggled to answer at first, but revealed that she knew all along that Frieza came to the planet, and she knew of his subsequent downfall, but she didn't feel like going back, preferring instead to train and defend the village she had taken refuge in, as for some reason, she found that quite fulfilling. Over time, she came to hear of her son's exploits and resolved to watch him, which she did for quite a while, but things went sour after the Duel at Death Valley with Rafael: once she heard her son's soul was gone and confirmed it with her Scouter, she felt rage boiling inside her: rage at this man who had taken his soul, rage at the people who called themselves his friends yet didn't bother to do anything, but most of all, rage at herself for taking too fucking long to see her own son.

That was when she felt a new power awaken inside her, in the form of her hair and tail flaring up and turning gold. At the time her rage had blinded her, and she could think of nothing more than to try and punish the person who took the soul of Yugi, only remembering he left after she fired at the valley. She kept a watchful eye on Yugi's friends after the incident and in the days to come, decided that no matter what, she had to try and meet him when he got his soul back, after all, there was always the possibility that she wouldn't get another chance.

"So I went to Capsule Corp., had those devices created, compiled the package together, had Solomon deliver it and here we are," Fasha finished.

"Wait a sec, what does Capsule Corp. have to do with this?" Yugi asked, confused.

"I'm surprised. I saw you in Saiyan Battle Armor before today. Did you not wonder where Bulma got the blueprints for making that armor?"

"Does that mean…?"

"Yes, this armor that you are wearing now was created by the Capsule Corporation based on the schematics I provided, as was your blue scouter. On that note, do you like the armor?"

"It is quite comfortable; I just didn't feel like wearing the gloves. I don't think they're my style."

"Understandable, I think. Besides, they are pretty much there just to complete the armor. Come to think of it, I think it's time I take the gloves off as well."

Fasha removed the white gloves and then, without warning, grabbed Yugi and pulled him into an embrace, him giving off a surprised "Wha-?". As she held him to herself, memories started flooding into her: feelings of how good it felt to hold the infant Yugi in her arms, and not just because of how her blood would live on. Holding Yugi now, she wondered how she could have let the fear of Frieza override the joy she felt holding her son. She wondered how she could have forgotten what it was like to hold him during her training, and shame was gnawing at her for thinking that she wouldn't be needed by him.

There was one other thing that she had no intention of mentioning to Yugi that she was ashamed of: at his birth, she thought that because he's part human, he wouldn't have the fighting spirit on which the Saiyans prided themselves, a hunch later confirmed by his non-aggressive nature in his early childhood. How was this child going to grow up to be a great warrior like his mother before him? If there was no wish to train, why should she bother living with him, much less training him at all? Looking back now, Fasha realized that this was completely the wrong way to look at him: for one thing her previous life of interplanetary conquest was over due to Frieza's betrayal, so why should she have to put someone through that again. For another thing, Yugi had grown into someone he was happy with being, and she had a hunch that even if he was made into another conqueror of worlds, he wouldn't enjoy it and would probably either go AWOL before his first assignment, or he wouldn't forgive himself and who knows what would happen then.

The shame had grown quite large, how could she have allowed herself to think that he was worthless for not having a fighting spirit. That was the thinking of _Frieza_ for Vegeta's sake, and he stabbed her and her entire race in the back!

"Um… Fasha… are you okay?" came Yugi's voice seemingly out of nowhere.

"I'm fine Yugi," she responded, her voice actually sounding shaky.

"Are you sure? You're crying."

"Really?" she sounded surprised, as if the tears rolling down her cheeks hadn't registered amidst all the mental chaos. "I guess it's just the past catching up to me."

"How so, if you don't mind me asking?" Yugi's voice was filled with concern.

"I regret some things that I have done. Let's just leave it at that."

"Okay, do you want me to tell you about how my life has been so far."

"Rather not now, hearing long stories just puts me to sleep."

Some time passed, with Fasha still holding Yugi close to her, before anyone continued speaking. "So, back at the Kaiba Land gate..." Yugi began, "… I noticed Grandpa acting weird."

"How so?"

"He seemed scared. I know he's old but he definitely isn't so clumsy as to almost drop the Millennium Puzzle when you threw it to him."

"Millennium what-now?"

"Uh… the necklace. I also noticed him panicking a bit."

"About what?"

"I don't know, but I think I heard a bit of panic in his voice when he was on the phone as well. I haven't seen him like that before."

"Hahaha, don't worry Yugi, that's just the effect I have on the old fool. Since I moved in with your father, I guess I knew that Solomon was the easiest to bend to my will. All I had to do was make sure he knew _exactly_ who he was dealing with, and I could get him to treat me like a queen. Many a time I had him deliver my food to me on a silver platter."

"Um… okay…"

"Nervous? Don't worry, I already hold a position of authority over you as your mother but that's as far as it goes, and I'm sure due to your training that you can actually put up a good fight unlike your frail grandfather."

"Do you think we can go back now? I think everyone might be starting to worry."

"If you insist Yugi."

Yugi didn't want to interrupt the moment like that, but he felt his friends might worry if he was gone too long and besides, he had a tournament to get to. He and Fasha took off from their location in the mountain and flew back to Kaiba Land.

They landed near the main gate, where Joey, Tea, Tristan, Solomon, Duke and Mokuba waited. Solomon gave Yugi back his Puzzle, whereupon Fasha said that _now_ the Pharaoh could come out.

"Before that, can I just ask Mokuba something?" Yugi asked.

"What is it Yugi?" Mokuba wondered.

"How have the Duels gone?"

"Well, you'll be happy to know that Gohan won his Duel, but the only ones left are Paul McGregor versus Shane Jordan, Rebecca Hawkins versus Vivian Wong, and Fortune Salim versus Zigfried Lloyd, and the first two are about to start, so let's go!"

Just then, a nearby screen lit up, announcing Rebecca and her opponent. Tea expressed her wish for Rebecca to defeat her on the spot while Solomon immediately seemed to fall in love with her and got overexcited by the Dueling, injuring his back as a result. Mokuba called for a doctor while Yugi's grandfather told him not to worry and just enjoy the tournament.

"Now, you wanted to see the Pharaoh?" Yugi asked his mother.

"There is one question I want to ask him, I guess," Fasha responded.

With that, Yugi transformed into the Pharaoh, whereupon he was immediately asked "How did it feel?" by Fasha.

"How did what feel?" he replied, confused.

"How did it feel to be trapped in a Saiyan body?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Think back to the train. I could tell at the time you were reveling in the traits that were inherent to Saiyans."

"Like what? I know I was having trouble controlling my anger due to the stunt that Weevil pulled, but-"

"Stop denying it. You were enjoying the battle, mercilessly beating your opponent into the ground… just like a Saiyan."

"Impossible… it was because I hadn't conquered the darkness within me, and I lost Yugi."

"Excuses, excuses. Fine, have it your way, I've grown bored with arguing. Can I see my son again?"

Upon hearing this request, the Pharaoh retreated, leaving Yugi, who, not willing to miss the match with Rebecca, went with everyone to find it before it started.

* * *

><p><strong>End note:<strong> Okay, that was harder than I thought. I'm not too sure mother-son reunions and Saiyans mix, but I tried, and I hope you enjoyed. Also, I'm not too sure if Fasha was a bit OOC or not.


	19. Chapter 18: Kaiba Land part 3

**Author's**** note:** Just a reminder, any cards highlighted **in bold** are not actual Yugioh cards.

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><p><span>Chapter 18:<span> Kaiba Land part 3: Life Points over 9000!

Gohan was waiting in a locker room of sorts for Yugi and everyone to return. When they did, he was immediately surprised by the appearance of somebody new: a woman clad in Saiyan armor, who upon request, revealed herself to be Fasha, Yugi's mother, now having returned to her son. "And who are you? I feel you also have Saiyan blood in you." she continued.

"I'm Gohan, Yugi's friend. My father was Goku, a Saiyan, like you."

"I don't remember anyone naming their child Goku. I would like to meet him, maybe see how strong he is."

"Sorry, he has passed on."

"Didn't Vegeta call him by another name?" Yugi suddenly asked.

"Yes, I think it was Ka-… something."

"Kakarot?" Fasha interrupted.

"Yes."

"That was his Saiyan name. Interesting. So you are his son, and by extension, Bardock's grandson. Is it true you are strong?"

"Yes. I defeated-"

"I know of your exploits. Yugi took the liberty of telling me, and I have to say I am impressed. Your grandfather would have been very proud of you."

"Attention all Duelists. Please prepare your decks and move to your designated locations!" the announcer boomed.

The second round of the Tournament was beginning, and while Fasha, Yugi and his friends went to watch Joey duel, Gohan was also getting ready to duel. His opponent was Detective Paul McGregor, and they were set to face off in one of the KaibaLand theatres, the Music Hall. Soon, the Duel got underway, with Gohan making the first move by playing his **Galick Gun** and summoning **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing** (0/2500). Paul then played Pot of Greed for two cards, placed one face-down, then activated Guardian Treasure, losing his entire hand, but drawing two cards and gaining the privilege to draw two cards instead of one as long as it remained in play. His face-down was then revealed: Disgraceful Charity, allowing him to gain back the cards he threw out. His next move was to summon a Plasma Eel (500/1200) in Defense mode, place three cards face-down then activate the Magic Card Scapegoat, giving him four extra monsters.

"What is he up to?" Gohan wondered. He began his turn, but his Life Points dropped to 1000.

"How?"

"I was clued in to your strategy," Paul announced. "I activated my Trap Card, Bad Reaction to Simochi! Now as long as it remains face-up on the field, every time you would gain Life Points, you lose that many instead. So since there were six monsters, you actually lost 500 points per monster!"

Gohan knew he was in trouble then, and he tried to think what he could do. After a while, during which the Music Hall somehow went haywire with the curtains closing and opening, accompanied by more malfunctions, he set a card and played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the enemy Trap, but was countered by Magic Jammer. His gambit was working well so far, so he summoned Mira the Eternal Magician (1800/1000) increased his own Magic Card to 900 points and forced Paul to reveal his face-down card, Trap Jammer. Knowing that the other face down was now no threat due to this phase not being a battle phase, he activated his set Dust Tornado to successfully destroy Bad Reaction to Simochi. The next move was the Magic Card called **Gather the Lesser Totems**. "If there is only one Lesser Mystic Totem on the field at the start of this turn, this card allows me to summon another one directly from my deck!" he explained, summoning his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense** (X/0) in Attack mode, giving it 4000 Attack points due to there being eight monsters in play and increasing the **Galick Gun** to 1400. The last two card in his hand was then played: Card of Sanctity, giving him six cards and Paul four.

The two Lesser Mystic Totems were then sacrificed to activate their effect, Special Summoning **Greater Mystic Totem of the Vampire** (?/0) which gained 1500 points from the monsters on Gohan's side of the field and 1250 from Paul's, giving it a total of 2150. The Magic Card Turn Jump was played, providing three Hunger Counters, and the Plasma Eel was subsequently destroyed, restoring 1200 Life Points to Gohan for a total of 2200 at the cost of all three counters. Paul began his turn by drawing two cards due to Guardian Treasure, then three cards were placed face-down.

Gohan's turn saw him place a card face-down, summon his Sangan (1000/600) and sacrifice it to summon **Twin Sister of Darkness** (1500/1500), getting the **Twin Sister of Light** (1500/1500) due to the ability of the first Sister, and one monster from Sangan, a Watapon (200/300) in Defense mode, special summoned by it's own effect. The **Galick Gun** was now given 2100 points for a total of 3500, and the **Greater Mystic Totem of the Vampire** had now gained 3750 points from Gohan's monsters and 1000 from Paul's, for a total of 4750. The Trap card Meteorain was activated from the former's side of the field, making the Defense mode of the Scapegoats irrelevant, and the Totem attacked. The next move from Paul was weird – the Trap Card Staunch Defender, forcing all of Gohan's monsters to attack one of the Scapegoats.

"What are you doing sir?" Gohan asked. "You'll lose all your life points-"

"I said I was clued in to your strategy!" Paul roared. "Reveal trap: Rainbow Life."

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes! Now, by discarding one card, the number of Life Points I would lose I would instead gain! Which means I gain 4750 from your Totem, 3000 from your sisters, 1800 from Mira and 200 from your Watapon, for a total of 9750, bringing my Life Points to 13750!"

Paul's turn saw a Sinister Serpent return from the Graveyard to the Hand, then he set a card and activated Pot of Benevolence, allowing him to take two cards from either player's Graveyard, and he chose two cards from his own, and shuffled them into his Deck. He then revealed the Trap Card Imperial Iron Wall: As long as this was on the field, no cards could be removed from play, meaning that the side effect of Pot of Benevolence was negated, instead of it being removed from play, it was sent to the Graveyard. He then activated the Field Spell Card **Arcane Blossom**, which in addition to filling the field with rainbows, allowed his Monster Card Zone to legally be used as a Magic/Trap card Zone provided all monsters there are Spellcasters or results of a Magic or Trap Card, meaning his Scapegoats don't stop the effect. He then set two cards, revealing one of them: Continuous Spell Card **Replace Card**, he can take a card of his choice out his Deck and add it to his hand as long as he showed it to the opponent and shuffled a card of the same type (Monster, Magic, Trap) from his hand back into his Deck. What's more, the effect could only be activated once per turn, unless you pay 500 Life Points, and that secondary effect cannot be activated more than once. He revealed Rainbow Life, and set it. He ended his turn with two cards in his hand.

Gohan drew, set a card, and chose to attack directly with Watapon, and rather predictably, Rainbow Life activated, bringing Paul up to 13950. The latter's turn saw him retrieve his Sinister Serpent from the Graveyard and activate _another_ Pot of Benevolence, and Gohan could guess which cards he was bringing back: sure enough, when **Replace Card** activated its effect twice, bringing him down to 13450, he revealed Rainbow Life and Pot of Benevolence. One of the cards was then re-set, and Gohan assumed Rainbow Life. Then, Meteor of Destruction was played, followed by the Continuous Spell Card **Amplify Damage**, which activated when a Monster, Magic or Trap card is due to deal damage. The player would then sacrifice X000 Life Points, and the damage dealt would be multiplied by X. Should the damage be successfully dealt to the opponent's Life Points, the player would be refunded half of their own Life Points. Paul chose to pay 3000 Life Points, bringing him to 10950 to multiply the effect of the Meteor by 3, but it was countered by Gohan's set Mystical Refpanel, redirecting the attack to himself, bringing him down to 7950 Life Points. Paul also revealed at that point that there was another drawback to **Replace Card**: If the card brought from your Deck is set or summoned this turn, if it is a Monster, it cannot attack and all abilities are negated, and if it is a Magic or Trap card, it cannot be activated until after the end of the turn in which you set or summoned it, hence why he took the damage.

Gohan knew now what strategy Paul was using, he needed some way to get rid of the Rainbow Life Trap permanently, otherwise it would just keep coming back by the effects of the two Pots of Benevolence, Imperial Iron Wall and **Replace Card**. There was also an idea as to what another one of his face-downs was. He drew, and activated Pot of Greed, praying for the Heart of the Cards to guide him. The two cards he drew were just the ones he needed. First, he Set a card. Then, he activated the Magic Card **Power of Desperation**, which increased the level of a monster in his hand by two stars, but if monster is successfully summoned and attacks, activates its effects or is used as material for another effect activation, the player gets to draw as many cards as its level divided by two and rounded up provided the opponent's Life Points are higher. He sacrificed Watapon to set the monster face-down, then activated Eradicator Epidemic Virus, fulfilling the terms of the last card and letting him draw three cards.

"You still need to pay the cost of tributing a monster with 2500 or more Attack points, which you don't have!" Paul declared. "So you-"

"-Can activate it!" Gohan interrupted. "The monster for the Virus was my set Giant Kozaky, with 2500 Attack points, just the amount I needed, and its level was increased to 6, so I could draw three cards. I declare, Trap Cards! Now, for the next three turns, all Trap Cards that are on your side of the field and in your hand are automatically destroyed, including Rainbow Life, Imperial Iron Wall, Trap Jammer and from the looks of it, your face-down on the field."

Now the only thing left on Paul's field was Guardian Treasure, three Scapegoats, **Amplify Damage** and **Replace Card**.

"Now for the monkey-wrench," the young Saiyan continued. "I activate Hand Control. I must now guess the name of a card in your hand, and I can activate it. I am now clued in to _your_ strategies, Detective McGregor: Since I know the cycle you use to bring back your trap depends on your Pot of Benevolence, I know you are holding it," whereupon he activated that very card and used it to bring back his Meteorain and his Card of Sanctity. "What's more, since there is no more Imperial Iron Wall to stop the side-effect, your card is removed from the game!"

The cards were then shuffled into Gohan's Deck, after which he played Graceful Charity, drawing three cards but discarding two from his hand. The Heart of the Cards was definitely with him that day, he had drawn his own Meteor of Destruction, Card of Demise and Emergency Provisions, along with the **Sister's Unity**, Dark Spirit Art-Greed, Dark Hole and Heavy Storm in his hand. He kept the first two cards that he drew. His **Greater Mystic Totem of the Vampire** had two Hunger Counters, 3000 points from his monsters, 750 points from his opponent's Scapegoats for a total of 3750. His **Galick Gun** had gotten 1250 points from the Giant Kozaky which was revealed as the source of the Eradicator Epidemic Virus, for a total of 4750.

Gohan played Meteor of Destruction, lowering Paul to 6950 Life Points. Mira the Eternal Magician attacked the first Scapegoat, destroying it. Then the Twin Sisters destroyed the last two Scapegoats. The totem, with 3000 points now, attacked Paul directly, bringing him down to 3950 Life Points.

"I will figure out something in the next turn. Mark my words boy!" he warned.

"There is no 'next turn'," Gohan stated.

"You have run out of attacks!"

"Let me just tell it to you like this. **Galick Gun**… _fire_!"

The Magic Card then sent a purple energy beam towards Paul, draining him of the last of his Life Points. That was when Paul realized his opponent had an attack stored up all along, the **Galick Gun**, which, unlike what he thought, was _far_ from insignificant: it wasn't just something for show, it was actually gathering power all that time.

"And the winner after this epic battle…" blared the announcer, "…is Son Gohan!"

Gohan immediately went to look at the chart for his next match, and after a bit of waiting, it was revealed not to be Joey Wheeler, whom he had hoped to duel, but Zigfried Lloyd, the mysterious pink haired man who, in a 2-on-1 Duel, annihilated the two Duelists Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, who had earlier infiltrated by way of the costume of Fortune Salim, in literally one fell swoop. Things would definitely be getting interesting for him quite soon, the half Saiyan thought.

* * *

><p><strong>End<strong>** note:** Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but things have gotten much busier than before, and because of that, I'm not sure when the next update will be, but don't worry, I'll update as soon as I can.


	20. Chapter 19: Kaiba Land part 4

**Author's note: **This is a reminder that any cards highlighted in **bold** are not actual Yugioh cards.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 19:<span> Kaiba Land part 4: They who fought amongst the stars

Gohan was now at the Galaxy Theatre of KaibaLand getting ready for his Duel with the mysterious Zigfried Lloyd. Of Yugi's friends in the tournament, it was down to him and Rebecca, who was facing off against the young Leon Wilson. Some time later, in came the pink-haired Duelist.

"So zis is ze little upstart eh?" he began. "I should vorn you, zis is vere your luck runs out."

"We'll just see about that, Zigfried," Gohan responded, handing his Deck to his opponent to shuffle, also receiving his Deck to do likewise. While shuffling, Gohan thought that straight after the Duel he should check on how Yugi and his Saiyan mother were getting along, as ever since Vegeta, he was slightly put off by his father's race.

The announcer revealed the matches between Gohan and Zigfried as well as Rebecca and Leon were about to start. Decks were inserted, Duel disks were activated, and there was a chant from both Gohan and Zigfried of "Let's Duel!"

Gohan took the first move playing his **Galick Gun**, then his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Healing** (0/2500) and activating **Gather the Lesser Totems** to bring out his **Lesser Mystic Totem of Defense** (0/X), it getting 1000 Defense points. The two were then sacrificed to summon **Greater Mystic Totem of the Sanctuary** (0/?) which gained 750 Defense points. Graceful Charity was then played, which allowed the drawing of three cards at the cost of discarding two, after which came Scapegoat, giving him four extra monsters. This brought his Totem up to 3750 Defense points. He set a card and ended his turn. Zigfried only played Pot of Greed for two extra cards, setting two.

Gohan drew, and due to his **Greater Mystic Totem of the Sanctuary**, he gained 3750 Life Points for a total of 7750. The totem gained a Protection Counter as well. He played Token Thanksgiving, ridding the field of his Scapegoats and giving him 2400 Life Points, so he was standing at 12150. Then he played Card of Sanctity, giving him and Zigfried a hand of six cards. After that, he summoned **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense** (X/0), which gained 1000 Attack points. At that point, Zigfried activated Loge's Flame, preventing all monsters with 2000 or fewer Attack points from attacking. In response, Gohan sacrificed his Greater Totem to reform his two Lesser Totems, and he sacrificed **Lesser Mystic Totem of Offense** and **Lesser Mystic Totem of Defense** to Special Summon **Greater Mystic Totem of the Fortress** (?/X) which gained 1500 Attack points and 1000 Defense Points. He played his own Pot of Greed, drawing two cards, one of which was Watapon (200/300), and its effect of being Special Summoned when moved from the deck to the hand using a Magic Card put it on the field immediately. Gohan sacrificed it to summon **Twin Sister of Light** (1500/1500) and, due to _that_ creature's ability, **Twin Sister of Darkness** (1500/1500) from his Deck as well. His **Galick Gun** was now at 1750 points, and his Totem at 3000 Attack and 2000 Defense points.

He attacked with his Totem, but Zigfried activated Wotan's Judgement, switching the top card of his Deck with a spell card from his hand and ending the Battle Phase. On his turn, Zigfried played Erda's guidance, setting a trap from his Graveyard at the cost of one spell card. He then played Nibelung's Treasure, gaining five cards and equipping Nibelung's Ring to Gohan's **Greater Mystic Totem of the Fortress**. The ring stopped the totem's ability to attack. After that came the spell cards Goddess Urd's Verdict, Goddess Verdandi's Guidance and Goddess Skuld's Oracle. The third of those cards was activated, forcing Gohan to show the top three cards of his Deck and rearrange them in any order Zigfried saw fit. The third card was placed on top, and Goddess Verdandi's Guidance was then activated. Zigfried correctly guessed that the top card of Gohan's Deck was a monster; therefore it had to be Set face-down on the field. Goddess Urd's Verdict then allowed its owner to guess the identity of the face-down monster and remove it from the game, and Zigfried correctly guessed **Crane School Warrior** (1000/500), albeit increasing Gohan's **Galick Gun** to 2250.

Gohan was forced to draw two cards due to Nibelung's Ring and show them to his opponent. He revealed Emergency Provisions and **Omega the Magnet Warrior** (2000/1000), the latter of which was a monster and had to be discarded. After gaining 2000 Life Points for a total of 14150, he used Spell Reproduction, sacrificing two of is spells to retrieve one spell from his Graveyard, and he activated it: Pot of Greed, hoping to draw something that could save him. As luck would have it, he drew Mystical Space Typhoon, which was promptly activated to destroy Loge's Flame, allowing his Twin Sister monsters to attack. Then, Monster Reborn was used to bring back Omega, increasing the **Galick Gun** to 3250 points. Gohan attacked with **Omega the Magnet Warrior** (2000/1000) but was stopped by the set Wotan's Judgement, which ended the Battle Phase. However, he wasn't done yet, as he fired his **Galick Gun**, bringing Zigfried down to 750 Life Points.

Zigfried's turn began, with him also playing a Spell Reproduction, then, for a second time, Nibelung's Treasure, drawing five cards, then with its other effect, activating Dark Hole on Gohan's side of the field, destroying all the monsters. Then came Ride of the Valkyries, Special Summoning two Valkyrie Brunnhilde (1800/2000), one Valkyrie Erste (1600/1800) and two Valkyrie Dritte (1000/1600) which gained 100 points for every monster removed from play. This particular Valkyrie gained 200 from the removed Lesser Totems, and 100 from the removed **Crane School Warrior**, for a total of 1300 Attack points. First to act was Valkyrie Erste, removing Omega in the Graveyard from the grave to bring itself up to the removed monster's Attack points of 2000, attacking with that. Gohan dropped down to 12150 Life Points. Then the two Valkyrie Brunnhildes attacked, bringing him down to 8550. After that came the two Valkyrie Drittes, now at 1400 Attack points each, taking him further down to 5750. Gohan breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that after this, the Valkyries would be gone.

Or so he thought. Zigfried played another card called Mischief of the Time Goddess, skipping the rest of his turn and going directly to the Battle Phase of the next turn. From there, Gohan could see the Valkyries slash the rest of his Life Points away.

"A victory just vosn't in ze stars for you," Zigfried taunted. While Gohan enjoyed the Duel, this person was another story. The sooner he got away from that person, the better. He closed his eyes, and focused on Yugi's energy. Once he found it, he exited the theater and flew off to meet him.

Gohan landed to meet Yugi by a restaurant, running into Joey, Tristan, Tea, Duke and Fasha as well. He was told that Yugi's grandfather was missing from the hospital after injuring himself just after Yugi met his mother. They were paged to go to the main gate and then shown a map which demarcated the restaurant which they were outside.

Gohan concentrated, and found that Solomon's energy was definitely inside the building. As they entered, however, they were greeted with loud bang on a gong, a fireworks display, enough food to fill maybe half of Goku's appetite and the Duelist Vivian Wong. She immediately jumped down upon seeing them, and slowly descended to the floor. The strange part was that Gohan couldn't sense her using any energy.

"Step away from the rope old man!" Fasha called, her hand extended with energy gathering.

"Yes! I'm sorry Fasha!" came the panicked response of Yugi's grandfather, who had apparently been feeding rope. Upon voicing his response, he let go, and Vivian accelerated, crashing into the floor.

"You nimrod! You had one simple job!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry! Give me another-"

"Shut up Solomon." Fasha commanded, energy still gathering in her outstretched hand.

Vivian snapped her fingers, and Solomon banged on the gong again. This time, Fasha fired at that same gong, destroying it. Her blast had just missed the old man.

"Welcome to the _real_ Grand Championship Yugi… where you and I will duke it out for the crown!" Vivian continued, despite the near obliteration of her servant.

Fasha immediately started laughing, while Yugi responded that it was against Kaiba's tournament rules, Tea saying that she had her chance and was cancelled out by Rebecca and Duke saying that only the winner of the tournament got a title shot, she already blew it.

Amid the laughter of Yugi's mother, Vivian stated that she was starting her own tournament, and the first match was Yugi against her. When the son refused, his grandfather told him he was making a mistake, the right thing to do was duel Vivian.

Fasha's laughter immediately stopped. "Bow to me now, old fool!" she boomed, malice evident in her voice.

"Wait a second, why are you doing this?" Yugi questioned

Solomon then explained that Vivian came to him in the hospital and healed him on condition that he helped her. "Had it not been for Vivian I wouldn't be standing here so I owe her a favour!"

"And I owe _you_ a beating!" Fasha stated, cracking her knuckles.

Joey continued to say that he forgot what was important: he forgot the Heart of the Cards, after which Solomon apologized. Whether it was due to true shame, or because Fasha was making motions towards him was a mystery. Knowing that she was pretty much defeated unless she did something, Vivian then injured his back again and demanded a Duel. If Yugi won, then his grandfather would walk. If not, they would go on a date, something which annoyed Tea a lot.

Yugi, transforming into the Pharaoh, said he must accept. Meanwhile, the rest of them began consuming the food. Fasha and Gohan were the biggest consumers there, devouring plate after plate of food. If this Duel wasn't finished soon, there wouldn't be any food left for Yugi unless they bothered the Kaiba Brothers.

The Duel eventually ended in Yugi's favor, after which he told the now sulking Vivian that his grandfather was waiting for her to uphold the end of the bargain. After doing so, Fasha challenged her to a different type of Duel. After all, the area was big enough to be a ring, and she heard that this woman was a master of kung fu, some native fighting style. That meant she had to be a decent fighter.

Vivian and Fasha stood on tables at opposite ends. The two flew at each other, the former getting knocked back across the room. Fasha stood over her opponent, whom had thrust a kick at her stomach. The foot impacted, and a fairly noticeable _crack_ was heard directly afterwards. Vivian lay where she was, with tears in her eyes, as pain had jolted up the foot she used. A moment later, however, her other leg was unleashing a flurry of kicks at Fasha… for about ten seconds, after which that foot was grabbed, and she was thrown to the other side of the restaurant.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Vivian began begging as she found her opponent standing over her, cracking her knuckles, grinning, with an evil glint in her eye.

"NOOOO!" a shout could be heard by people outside of the restaurant along with the sound of crashing amidst feeling violent shockwaves emanating from the same location.


	21. Chapter 20: Kaiba Land part 5

Chapter 20: Kaiba Land part 5: Mother Knows Best

The final match had arrived. Gohan had told Yugi of his loss to Zigfried by that point, which led to Joey boasting about himself not being such a bad duelist after all, until Tea mentioned that at least the Saiyan Hybrid got to the _semi finals_. Now sitting in the main arena's stands, everyone was just waiting for the final match to get underway.

"Ummm… Fasha?" Tea stuttered.

"What?" came Fasha's reply.

"I know back in the restaurant Vivian was being a total bitch, trying to steal Yugi away, but I have to ask…"

"Get to the point!"

"Not that I'm complaining, but why did you beat her up after Yugi beat her?"

"After the whole mess with that Orichalcos thing, did you really think I was going to give him up that easily? Besides, I haven't had a good fight in a _looong_ time, so I thought, since she was a 'kung fu master', that she would put up a decent fight. What a rip-off!"

"Why do you say that?"

"She was pathetic. She was so weak it was pitiful. Just one hit and she goes flying? I've seen better from your punching bags!"

Just then, the announcer proclaimed the start of the final match. However, that was when Kaiba arrived and declared the match invalid due to Zigfried Lloyd having registered under a fake name. After some more bickering, the match changed to Zigfried von Schroeder vs. Seto Kaiba. As the Duel proceeded, Gohan and Joey recognized cards used against them, cards that both of them succumbed to.

Kaiba eventually did what Joey and Gohan could not: triumph over Zigfried. With this victory, Zigfried was disqualified, but allowed to stay to witness the final match. Amid Leon's strange behavior of anger instead of cheerfulness, it was here that another controversy occurred: Leon Wilson was also using an alias, as he was really Leon von Schroeder. More details about his life, this time coming from Leon, actually seemed to intrigue Fasha. Him being alone for most of his life until he proves his worth and gets noticed by powerful people sounded strangely familiar.

Golden Castle of Stromberg came into play sometime afterwards, and that was when things got ugly. After hearing that the card wasn't only not a tournament-legal card, but also carried a virus on it, Fasha's rage was increasing. This man had clearly used his own brother as a pawn! It was when Leon tried and failed to dispose of the card and virus that she snapped. Amid Zigfried's laughter and boasting about the card's indestructible effects, he didn't notice the Saiyan woman appear behind him. Eventually, the card was destroyed, and just then, Zigfried felt a constricting pressure on his throat. Directly afterwards, he felt himself being lifted off the ground.

"Vot is… ze meaning… of zis?" Zigfried coughed.

"Miss, please let him go!" Leon shouted.

"Why?" Fasha burst out. "This man just deceived you! Lied to you! _Used you!_"

"I know, but can't we give him another chance?"

"I know his type. I have worked with people like him before. You'll be kept around as long as you are useful, but as soon as you become useless or viewed as a threat, you will be quickly… disposed of."

"Zigfried would never do that!"

"Oh really? Take a good look at what he made you do today. Let me ask you, are you really prepared to sacrifice your values for your brother's selfish schemes? Also, considering what he has made you do, what _isn't_ he prepared to do to you for the sake of his own goals?"

"But he offered me the chance to be with my family again!"

"Was that what you really wanted?"

"Yes. I told you, I was pretty much forgotten about. I wanted to do anything to be a part of the family."

"Then why did you even bother creating 'Leon Wilson' instead of using the Schroeder name and bringing glory to your family that way? Didn't you say you changed your name so that your family _wouldn't_ find out? Besides, left alone until you develop talents of your own? Your talents being used for somebody else's gain once you are discovered? That relationship is not brotherly, but the same relationship as someone has with a tool!"

"How would you know?"

"I walked the same path as you, Leon Wilson, and it nearly got me killed."

"I thought everyone knew: I am Leon-"

"…Wilson. Face it; you didn't want to be a part of something that went against all you stood for. You were much happier as Leon Wilson than Leon von Schroeder. Why else would you not have had any fun challenging the King of Games as per your dream?"

"Wait, so you say I might suffer in the long term?"

"Yes, and that is why Zigfried is hanging over this balcony. I know the pain of being used, and then disposed of, and I will not let it happen again!"

"But what about my family? I want to be-"

"When will you listen to me? They spurned you for most if not all of your life. You owe them _nothing!_"

"Zigfried's suffocating! Please, let him go!"

"Fine!"

Fasha threw Zigfried back onto the floor of the Duel Arena, whereupon he started coughing. The pressure from her grasp had left him deprived of air, desperate for oxygen exchange to happen. Leon then considered surrendering the Duel to Yugi since he was forced to play foul.

"Listen," Fasha began again, "…you are not so weak that you need to give up your dream just because of your loathsome brother. You are not weak at all."

"She's right, Leon," Yugi spoke in the Pharaoh's voice. "Facing me was your dream. You owe it to yourself to see your dream through to the end, and that is why you shouldn't surrender."

"But, that card…" Leon sobbed. "It's my fault for playing it in the first place. I didn't want this, I just wanted a fair duel!"

"The only one to blame for that is your pathetic excuse for a brother," Fasha continued. "Were it not for his selfish interference, I am sure that you would have enjoyed the Duel. By doing your best to fight against his plans, you have proven that you are far stronger than he could _ever_ hope to be."

"But I'm also a Schroeder-"

"Do you really believe that? Ask yourself this, would you rather be the miserable Leon von Schroeder, a tool in the plans of your brother and SchroederCorp, or stand tall as Leon Wilson, the happy and as yet undefeated young champion Duelist?"

From there, Leon resolved to continue the Duel, and although it ended in his opponent's victory, he was still told that he fought with honor in the toughest of circumstances, and he never gave up. Zigfried's plans went further down the tubes when he stated that the damage caused by the virus he had unleashed on KaibaCorp would take years to repair, as Kaiba himself appeared and told him that the files had already been restored. Utterly defeated, it took a few words from Leon himself to persuade Zigfried to run SchroederCorp not as a rival to KaibaCorp, but its own company. During this, Leon also thanked Fasha for helping him realize the truth.

Later, at the airport, everyone was preparing to say goodbye to Professor Hawkins, Rebecca and Duke.

"Ummm… Fasha?" Yugi began.

"Yes?" his mother questioned.

"I didn't know you were so concerned about Leon back there."

"I think it's this world. A couple years ago I would have just left him to his fate, but now, strangely, I saw something wrong with standing idly by. Besides, the methods of Zigfried von Schmoeder felt highly reminiscent of those of Frieza."

"Wait, so you were used as well?"

"I thought I told you, Yugi, our entire _race_ was used. What's more, once we proved our strength, we were obliterated."

"I don't think I've ever seen this side of you, Fasha," Solomon observed.

"There are quite a number of sides you haven't seen of me, old man! Were it not for… certain things… I would have had you punished for turning against the family on the spot back in that restaurant!"

"Hey, you guys!" Mokuba shouted, running towards them. "I hook you up with our private jet and you don't have the courtesy to board on time?"

After a little bit more bickering and a few more goodbyes, Yugi, Solomon, Joey, Tea, Tristan and Fasha left on the aforementioned jet to return to Domino City. For Yugi, it was quite a happy time: he had reunited with his mother, and was now ready to help the Pharaoh unlock his memories. The only thing he was slightly unsure about was that, during the actual flight, Fasha stated her intent of training with him once they landed.

* * *

><p><strong>End note<strong>**:**Sorry for the late update. Other things have just been getting in the way. I'll try to come back to this over the next few months, so hopefully there will be an update fairly soon.


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